KFVS12 News & Weather Cape Girardeau, Carbondale, Poplar BluffH1N1 vaccine for prison inmates?

H1N1 vaccine for prison inmates?

By CJ Cassidy - bio | email

MISSISSIPPI COUNTY, MO (KFVS) -The H1N1 vaccine maybe in short supply, but it's still in high demand at prisons across Missouri.

It's a topic that's getting a lot of buzz in states like Texas and Massachusetts.

Inmates in county or city jails aren't really there long enough to need a vaccine.  It's the inmates in prison, who are locked up for months or years who health experts say end up needing it, and that decision is left up to county health authorities.

It's obvious little Gary McClain doesn't want the H1N1 vaccine, but he and his siblings are under 18 and the CDC calls that a high risk group for the flu.

"It's gotten a lot of people sick and I just don't want to get it," said Gary's older brother Edward.

Turns out, a lot of people in prison feel the same way.

Melanie DeWitt with the Mississippi County Health Department says they know of 25 confirmed H1N1 cases at the Southeast Correctional Center in Charleston.

"We have a lot of corrections officers, family members calling wanting to know when we're going to vaccinate that population," DeWitt said.

Still, DeWitt says none of the inmates here fall into a high risk category, and so far she's focusing on getting the vaccine out to those who need it the most.

She requested more than 14,000 doses of the vaccine, but so far the department's only received 300.

"If we had the vaccine and we needed to vaccinate the prisoners, it would be a tough call to take it away from maybe a child that needs it as opposed to send it out to the prison," she said.

So how would you feel about inmates getting a shot at the vaccine before you do?

Folks Heartland News spoke with appeared divided on the issue.  All the women in an informal poll Heartland News conducted seemed to think the prisoners should have an equal chance of getting the vaccine, and the men felt strongly against it.

A spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Corrections says they are working on figuring out how many offenders across the state fall into the high risk category, but they do know they have 31 pregnant inmates.

So far only one inmate ended up getting that vaccine at the prison in Moberly, Missouri.

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