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Convicts shouldn't receive priority in swine flu vaccinations
Arragon Perrone
Issue date: 11/4/09 Section: Commentary
This flu season millions of hard-working Americans, struggling to receive swine flu vaccines amid rising shortages, can take comfort in the fact that one high-risk group will be protected: prisoners. Prisons in Massachusetts, Ohio, Missouri and Texas may receive the swine flu vaccine before the public does. Massachusetts county jails and prisons have requested 21,000 doses for both staff and inmates and Texas has asked for over 158,000 for the convicts alone. Texas is an interesting case especially, since only "45,224 [convicts] are considered high risk," according to Michelle Lyons, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. High risk inmates include the elderly, AIDS-sufferers, and those with immune system disorders. This difference of 112,776 vaccine doses apparently does not include the prison staff - medical workers, guards, correctional officers - since 40,000 additional doses have already been requested for them. Why is there an dosage surplus when there are so many shortages throughout the country? There is no clear answer.
On Oct. 28, the Austin American-Statesman published an article insinuating this central claim: convicts will receive swine flu vaccines before the majority of the general public. Within hours, the Texas Department of State Health Services issued an advisory, again through Lyons, saying that "prisoners are not a priority group to receive the vaccine and will not be vaccinated ahead of the general public." Such rapid response to a potentially explosive political story was well-handled, but the fact that almost 113,000 doses are already in bureaucratic limbo does not bode well for the other states. Ohio, for example, expects 10,876 doses to cover its medical workers and inmates, in addition to 52,487 set to come in December. As of Oct. 30, no prison in the state of Ohio has reported a single case of swine flu.
It would be nice if the American public - made up of the tax-paying citizens who provide such compassionate services for convicted felons - could have a government equally concerned with providing vaccines for them. Of course it is easier to provide vaccines for a smaller population (such as prisons) than it is for a larger population (such as the public), but it is inexcusable for over 100,000 doses to be floating around in bureaucratic red tape during, as President Barack Obama deemed it on Oct. 24, a "national emergency."
On Oct. 28, the Austin American-Statesman published an article insinuating this central claim: convicts will receive swine flu vaccines before the majority of the general public. Within hours, the Texas Department of State Health Services issued an advisory, again through Lyons, saying that "prisoners are not a priority group to receive the vaccine and will not be vaccinated ahead of the general public." Such rapid response to a potentially explosive political story was well-handled, but the fact that almost 113,000 doses are already in bureaucratic limbo does not bode well for the other states. Ohio, for example, expects 10,876 doses to cover its medical workers and inmates, in addition to 52,487 set to come in December. As of Oct. 30, no prison in the state of Ohio has reported a single case of swine flu.
It would be nice if the American public - made up of the tax-paying citizens who provide such compassionate services for convicted felons - could have a government equally concerned with providing vaccines for them. Of course it is easier to provide vaccines for a smaller population (such as prisons) than it is for a larger population (such as the public), but it is inexcusable for over 100,000 doses to be floating around in bureaucratic red tape during, as President Barack Obama deemed it on Oct. 24, a "national emergency."
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Rob
posted 11/04/09 @ 11:02 AM EST
H1N1 has not shown itself to be any more deadly than the seasonal flu. Yet, you've made the disease sound like the second-coming of Ebola Zaire just to illustrate your distaste for convicts. (Continued…)
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