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Prisoners in the state of Tennessee were placed last on the COVID-19 vaccine eligibility list after an advisory board feared a “public relations nightmare” if they had priority access, reported the ‘Associated Press.
According to the report, released on Saturday, the Pandemic Vaccine Planning Stakeholder Group, the council charged with making recommendations for the state’s vaccine deployment, noted that those in prison “would be a vector of transmission of the disease. general population ”if they were“ not treated ”.
The advisory board first met in September 2020 and is made up of 40 public health agencies, healthcare coalitions, public officials, emergency management and other organizations, according to the report. the Associated Press.
Some prison staff have been vaccinated, according to the report, but the exact number in the state of Tennessee is not publicly available. No prisoners have yet been vaccinated, according to the report.
The Tennessee Department of Health did not immediately return Insider’s request for comment on Saturday.
Tennessee’s immunization plan includes people incarcerated in phase 3 of its immunization plan, behind healthcare workers, first responders, teachers, high-risk people, and correctional facility staff. Inmates who currently qualify to receive the vaccine because of their age have not yet been vaccinated, according to the AP report on Saturday.
Documents obtained by the Associated Press showed that the advisory board concluded that there would be “a lot of media inquiries” if it chose to prioritize immunization of incarcerated people, even if it claimed that the detainees were “part of the community”, according to the report.
Throughout the pandemic, those incarcerated in the United States have been at increased risk of contracting the novel coronavirus, while advocates have complained about conditions in prisons and prisons that put inmates at increased risk.
In July 2020, the Journal of the American Medical Association found that prisoners were infected with COVID-19 at a rate more than five times higher than the general population. In December, a report from the Marshall Project and the AP found that one in five inmates in the United States had contracted COVID-19, compared to about 1 in 20 people in the general population. More than 1,700 inmates died from the virus, also in December.
In Tennessee, one in three prisoners has tested positive for COVID-19, according to data from the AP and the Marshall Project.
The Associated Press report on Saturday highlights the long-standing debate over the deployment of the COVID-19 vaccine in the United States, and in particular the deployment of vaccines in incarcerated populations. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued general guidance, states ultimately control vaccine eligibility.
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