Oldest Denver jail inmates to start getting COVID-19 vaccine soon – The Denver Post
Older inmates of Denver’s jails and detention facilities could begin to get COVID-19 shots in the near future through a partnership between the sheriff’s office and Denver Health, Mayor Michael Hancock announced Thursday.
Starting Friday, anyone who is 60 or older in Colorado is eligible for vaccination, as are younger people who have two conditions shown to increase the risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19. Previously, only people 65 and older were eligible.
Gov. Jared Polis had said prisoners would be vaccinated when they met the same eligibility criteria as free people. But it’s not clear how many counties, like Denver, haven’t started vaccinating their jail inmates.
Daria Serna, spokeswoman for the Denver Sheriff Department, said the agency had only recently received permission from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to begin vaccinating inmates, and hadn’t yet been shipped any doses. The state health department didn’t respond to questions about the approval process.
Dr. Bill Burman, director of Denver Public Health, said logistics issues made it difficult to vaccinate inmates earlier. The Pfizer vaccine must be stored at less than -75 degrees Fahrenheit, a temperature typically only found in specialized freezers in hospitals, and the Moderna vaccine contains 11 doses per vial, which must be used in six hours, he said.
While the Denver jails have far more than 11 inmates, there typically aren’t large numbers who are over 65, Burman said.
“We’ve been working on getting those included as appropriate for their age for some time. It’s been particularly challenging with the two vaccines we’ve had,” he said.
The first doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which can be stored in an ordinary refrigerator, were scheduled to arrive in Colorado on Thursday. Burman said the simpler logistics will make it possible to vaccinate inmates who are eligible because of their age or medical conditions.
New inmates who qualify will be offered the vaccine at booking, and they will begin offering shots to those already in the jails, he said.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine also requires only one dose, unlike the Pfizer and Moderna versions, which call for a second shot a few weeks later. Unlike inmates of state prisons, jail inmates may spend only a short time incarcerated before bonding out or being released, creating possible difficulties arranging a second shot.
While prioritizing prisoners is never politically popular, courts have ruled that states and counties are responsible for their inmates’ medical needs, since they can’t leave to seek care themselves. One of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s earlier prioritization plans would have put prisoners ahead of people over 65, because of the higher risk of outbreaks in living situations where social distancing is difficult or impossible — but Polis shot that down.
The Denver County jail and the Van Cise-Simonet Detention Center are two of 22 jails and state prisons with COVID-19 outbreaks the state considers ongoing. An outbreak is two or more cases connected to the same location, and isn’t considered over until four weeks have passed with no new cases.
The federal penitentiary in Englewood, 17 state prisons and 13 jails also had outbreaks that have since been declared over. Some of the facilities with resolved outbreaks also have current ones.
Hancock also announced that the city would add three new vaccination sites targeting underserved neighborhoods next week. He asked people who have another option, such as getting the vaccine from a health system, not to schedule appointments at the sites, which are meant to reach people without the resources to get vaccinated elsewhere.
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