Updated at 8:40 p.m.
A Vermont Department of Health advisory panel is calling on Gov. Phil Scott’s administration to reverse course and vaccinate all prisoners in its custody — but the governor continues to oppose the proposal.
The Vermont Covid-19 Vaccine Implementation Advisory Committee sent a letter to the department Monday addressing its members’ concerns.
“We recommend that the administration amend its vaccination policies to provide access to Covid-19 vaccines in the current phase of distribution to all incarcerated individuals in its care,” committee members concluded, according to a final version of the letter obtained by VTDigger.
An earlier draft, also obtained by VTDigger, used even stronger language — calling on the administration “to immediately amend its vaccination policies” to vaccinate all prisoners.
It was not clear why the committee softened its approach. Dr. Harry Chen, who chairs the advisory panel and previously served as the state’s health commissioner, did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
“Taking a responsible population health-based approach to equitable and effective vaccine allocation includes prioritizing those who work and live in these high-risk environments,” both versions of the letter read. “Vermont must offer Covid-19 vaccines to all incarcerated and detained individuals as soon as possible.”
The panel of volunteers advises the commissioner of health, Dr. Mark Levine, on the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine, according to the Department of Health website. It includes a variety of health care providers, advocates and industry groups. The committee makes “recommendations about the needs of priority populations during vaccine planning and distribution when the supply is limited,” the website states.
Scott and members of his administration have reiterated their position that incarcerated individuals should be eligible for vaccinations when they fall within the qualifying age bands or meet medical condition requirements.
“As the governor and state officials have repeatedly said,” Jason Maulucci, a spokesperson for the governor, wrote in an email Wednesday, “the primary objective of Vermont’s vaccine strategy is the preservation of life, and the science and data clearly show that age is the top risk factor.”
That’s why the state has taken an age-banding approach, he wrote.
“We are now in Phase 5, which expands eligibility to those with certain high-risk health conditions that lead to poor outcomes from Covid-19,” Maulucci wrote. “Offenders with these conditions are also eligible.”
Maulucci reiterated what the governor said at Tuesday’s press conference: that all Vermonters, including prisoners, would be eligible for vaccines by the end of April.
“There are dozens and dozens of groups, sectors and populations who have requested prioritization. A case can be made for each,” he wrote. “But with a limited supply, everyone can’t be at the front of the line, so preservation of life must be the top priority. We stand by our strategy to save lives.”
In a break from the age-banding approach, the state earlier this month began offering vaccines to corrections officers who work in prisons. That move came after the strong urging of the Vermont State Employees’ Association.
Administration officials at that time also expanded eligibility to additional public safety personnel, citing the recent approval of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and additional vaccine doses they expected to receive.
Vermont’s total prison population is 1,240, according to the Department of Corrections.
The state is currently in the midst of one of its largest prison coronavirus outbreaks since the pandemic reached Vermont.
Since late last month, 175 incarcerated individuals and 15 staff members have tested positive for Covid-19 at the Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport. Ten of the inmate cases and two of staff cases were newly reported by the corrections department Wednesday night. The latest results came from testing conducted at the facility on Monday. The next round of testing is scheduled for this Thursday.
Northern State, which has been in lockdown since the start of the outbreak, houses about 340 prisoners.
An even larger outbreak took place last summer among Vermont inmates held in an out-of-state correctional facility in Mississippi run by the private prison corporation CoreCivic. In that outbreak, 185 of 219 Vermont prisoners held at the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Tutwiler, Mississippi, tested positive for the coronavirus.
The advisory panel’s letter on Monday cited several factors leading to its recommendation.
Among those factors is that prisoners live in congregate settings and have little ability to protect themselves from the virus. Covid-19 outbreaks make it difficult to manage such facilities and put stress on community resources, the committee wrote.
The letter also stated that people of color are at a heightened risk both of contracting and dying from Covid-19. And, it said, while Black Vermonters make up only 1.4% of the state’s overall population, they constitute 9.5% of Vermont’s prison population.
The letter added that Black Vermonters make up a disproportionate number of the positive Covid-19 cases within the state’s corrections system.
“The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized (Estelle v Gamble, 1976) that deliberate indifference to the serious medical needs of incarcerated people violates the Constitution,” the letter reads. “Overlooking populations known to be at high risk of infection represents a failure of these basic public health duties.”
Other advocacy organizations, including the Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and local chapters of the NAACP, have been urging the state to vaccinate incarcerated individuals.
Several health care organizations have also signed on to a letter to the administration calling for prioritizing the vaccination of incarcerated individuals.
Dr. Simha Ravven, president of the Vermont Medical Society, said Wednesday that the letter shows a unity among health care professionals on the issue.
“I think there has been mounting concerns about Covid-19 infections among incarcerated people,” she added. “As we have increasing supply (of vaccines) and an outbreak right now the urgency is far greater.”
Ravven said incarcerated individuals can’t take the same mitigation steps as those out in the community can, such as maintaining proper social distancing.
“Incarceration is in and of itself a risk factor for contracting Covid,” she said.
The health care groups signing onto the letter include the Vermont Medical Society, Vermont Academy of Family Physicians, the Vermont chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Vermont Psychiatric Association.
“Logistically, it may be more practical to offer vaccine to whole prison and jail populations at once than to coordinate vaccination by age,” the letter stated.
“As wards of the state,” the letter added, ”the state also has a different level of responsibility for incarcerated people and their welfare, than the general population.”
A group of 17 state legislators — including the entire House Progressive Caucus — signed a letter Wednesday afternoon calling on the Scott administration to side with the advisory panel.
“We write to implore you to take action to protect incarcerated Vermonters in state and out of state prisons from this pandemic,” they wrote, citing the outbreak at Northern State and the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on the BIPOC community.
“In order to protect the human rights and dignity of incarcerated Vermonters, especially those that are BIPOC, we must immediately prioritize their health and safety, and provide vaccinations for incarcerated Vermonters now,” the legislators concluded.
Correction: An earlier version of this story quoted only a draft of the Vaccine Implementation Advisory Committee’s letter. The current version also includes the final language sent to the health commissioner.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Department of Health advisory group calls for vaccination of inmates, but Scott administration says no.