One area where it appears that vaccines are getting less traction is in prison. Nicole Lewis of The Marshall Project and Michael R. Sisak of the Associated Press report today on the difficulties of getting staff in America’s jails to take the Covid shots.
They report that in Massachusetts, more than half the people employed by the Department of Correction declined to be immunized. A statewide survey in California showed that half of all correction employees will wait to be vaccinated. In Rhode Island, prison staff have refused the vaccine at higher rates than the incarcerated, according to medical director Dr. Justin Berk. And in Iowa, early polling among employees showed a little more than half the staff said they’d get vaccinated.
Some correctional officers are refusing the vaccine because they fear both short- and long-term side effects of the immunizations. Others have embraced conspiracy theories about the vaccine.
Public health experts continue to worry about the…