Federal judge says prisoners should receive vaccinations before senior citizens

(FEBRUARY 8, 2021) Each state has its own COVID-19 vaccination plan. Usually first responders and health care workers have received shots first. Elderly people in nursing homes have been next.

However, according to the Associated Press, a federal judge "has ordered all inmates in the Oregon prison system to be prioritized for COVID-19 vaccinations -- a move that should make prisoners immediately eligible for inoculation." That means that prison inmates would receive vaccine shots before school teachers and other elderly people who were originally going to be next.

"From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was clear that our country's prisons were uniquely vulnerable to the transmission and spread of the virus," wrote the judge. "Prisons have not been spared from this reality, as COVID-19's toll continues to mount behind bars."

The governor's office said that as many as 11,000 prison inmates could receive vaccinations under this ruling. The state does not think this change will slow down vaccination so long as the state continues to receive vaccine supplies on time from the federal government.