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A few dozen inmates at one local jail have gotten the coronavirus vaccine, but health officials haven’t told most sheriffs or superintendents in Hampton Roads when to expect doses for the region’s thousands of other incarcerated men and women.
Other challenges remain, too: Many inmates have said they don’t want the vaccine, and those who do might have trouble getting their second doses scheduled if they’re released from jail sometime after getting the first.
People housed in correctional facilities are included in phase 1b of the state’s vaccine rollout — the phase Hampton Roads’ cities and counties currently are in for immunizations. But the category is large and could encompass more than four million people, state officials have said, including frontline essential workers, people 65 and older and those between ages 16 and 64 with medical conditions.
So far, about 50 inmates at the Portsmouth City Jail received the first dose of the Moderna vaccine last week. The city jails in Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk and Virginia Beach — and the Hampton Roads and Western Tidewater regional jails — don’t yet know when their inmates will get it. Col. Jeff Vergakis, interim superintendent of the Hampton Roads Regional Jail, said the local health department doesn’t have a time frame for delivering the vaccine but expects it in the next several weeks.
Most staff members at local jails became eligible for the vaccine in January. In Hampton, about 65% of the staff has gotten its first dose of the Moderna vaccine, according to sheriff’s Lt. Alonzo Cherry. But the process hasn’t been seamless.
Superintendent William Smith of Western Tidewater Regional Jail said only about 40 of his 180 staff members and contractors have been able to get a first dose.
The jail signed up its staff and contractors through the federal Vaccine Administration Management System online, Smith said, and each individual then received an email to pick a vaccination location and register for an appointment. Many people have searched a 100-mile radius and haven’t been able to snag an appointment, he said. Others have registered only to have their appointment canceled — sometimes numerous times, Smith said.
Smith said it’s been “extremely frustrating” that his staff can’t get vaccines as first responders. He’s complained to the local health district, but said he was told they just didn’t have the doses. He said he’s even tried appealing to state delegates.
The Western Tidewater Health District hasn’t been able to tell him when vaccines will be available for inmates, he said.
It’s important for everyone to get vaccinated, Smith said, but it’s critical for those who work or live in correctional facilities. Hundreds are confined to an indoor space with nowhere else to go, and when an outbreak begins, it’s “like a wildfire in the summer when it takes off,” Smith said.
That’s why health experts and elected officials, including President Joe Biden, have emphasized the importance of getting incarcerated people vaccinated — even if it might strike some people as unfair that a jail inmate can get the dose before others. Vaccinating inmates doesn’t just protect them, but the rest of the population, too: Local jails mainly house people awaiting trial or serving short sentences, so many will get out soon. And jails often disproportionately house poor people and people of color, who have been more apt to be affected by COVID-19.
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In Portsmouth, the city jail’s medical unit went through training with the health department, and a special refrigerator was purchased to house the vaccine, said Col. Marvin Waters, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office. Employees received their first dose two weeks ago.
Staff held an information session to educate inmates on the vaccine, but only a fourth of the 200 inmates wanted it, he said. Waters said some were skeptical about the vaccine process and others were scheduled to be released soon, before the second dose could be administered 28 days later.
Staff at the Virginia Beach Correctional Center conducted an informal survey of their inmates and found that only 300 of 1,100 were willing to be vaccinated, said Kathy Hieatt, spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office.
Based on the survey, she said the department expects to see some resistance to the vaccine once the jail gets it, “… but we will make every effort to educate and encourage them,” Hieatt said in an email. “We cannot and will not mandate anyone to take the vaccine.”
There are a lot of logistics involved, she said, including the temperature at which the vaccine must be stored and administering two doses, as some people may get out of jail before their second shot.
Once the Newport News jail gets the vaccine for its inmates, staff plans to prioritize those who are at risk, including inmates who are older or have underlying medical conditions, Dottie Wikan, department spokeswoman, wrote in an email.
Margaret Matray, 757-222-5216, margaret.matray@pilotonline.com