BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - Vermont health care experts are calling on Gov. Phil Scott to immediately have prison inmates vaccinated against the coronavirus.
WCAX News obtained a copy of the letter sent to Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine from the state’s COVID-19 Vaccine Implementation Advisory Committee, a group made up of more than two dozen health care providers and advocacy groups. It says inmates are at high risk of serious disease and should have been included when the state vaccinated Group 1A, which included residents of nursing homes.
Following the release of the letter, more than a dozen Vermont lawmakers echoed the group’s calls to move inmates to the front of the vaccine line.
“Human beings, if they’re incarcerated individuals, are still members of our community. We have a moral obligation to take care of their health. When people commit a crime they go to prison and they serve their time, but it is not part of their sentence to be exposed to a virus,” said Rep. Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, P/D- Burlington.
Full story: https://www.wcax.com/2021/03/18/advisory-committee-recommends-gov-scott-vaccinate-incarcerated-individuals-immediately/
