Colorado Vaccine Distribution Should Prioritize People in Congested Living Conditions

Do child sexual abusers, rapists, or murderers need to be vaccinated with COVID-19 before their grandfather? In that regard, should prisoners be shot before Colorado, which complies with the rest of our law?

With these provocative rhetoric questions and subsequent anger, did the Governor and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment change the state’s vaccine distribution program to exclude imprisoned persons from priority? It is a pity.

When constructing such complex public health decisions, it is also necessary to ask whether a 50-year-old obese diabetics should be vaccinated before the age of 62, who has a healthy lifestyle. Or should a 90-year-old child with progressive dementia living in a nursing home be shot in front of a leukemia mother raising five young children? Or should a 60-year-old chain smoker with emphysema be shot before the rehabilitated 34-year-old aspiring to return to society?

If these questions make you uncomfortable, they should. Who is in a position to weigh the value of another person’s life? This is why Colorado’s vaccination distribution program cannot be based on those who achieve maximum harm mitigation for the entire community, rather than on individuals who “deserve” the vaccine as individuals. Priority is given to protecting the most vulnerable to severe infections, protecting the health of essential workers such as healthcare professionals, and preventing outbreaks among those at highest risk of catching and spreading the disease. need to do it.

The original plan, announced in October, has six phases that balance these priorities, living in a dense and susceptible environment such as the elderly, essential workers with chronic illness, and prisoners. And ensured that working people were vaccinated in front of the general public. ..

Currently, the final plan has four phases. This winter, healthcare professionals working with COVID patients, as well as care facility staff and residents, will be vaccinated, followed by other medical professionals, first responders, and corrective workers. In the spring, vaccines are provided to people over the age of 65 and those with chronic illnesses that make them more susceptible to severe infections, followed by those who work directly with the general public and high-density meat processing plans. It will be available to those who work in the environment. .. Finally, the general public is vaccinated.

Who is missing from the final list? People living in apartments such as prisons and college dormitories are included, even though 14 of the 15 largest coronavirus cases to date in Colorado have occurred in correctional facilities and college campuses. I didn’t. You need to deal with this omission.

The state is under the US Constitution, a 1976 US Supreme Court proceeding Estellev. According to Gamble, they have a legal obligation to provide medical care to imprisoned people. According to a Criminal Justice Commission investigation, detainees are four times more likely to be infected with COVID-19 than the general population and have a higher mortality rate from the disease.

Inmates are more vulnerable to catching and transmitting the disease, so they should receive a higher priority than the general public. They shouldn’t be at the top of the line, but they should be in front of people like me who can be effectively socially distanced and have low risk.

Most people in Colorado prisons and prisons are not child molesters, rapists, or murderers, but regardless of the crime, courts and juries have already decided penalties and they serve them. The priority of this vulnerable population in vaccine planning cannot be denied in order to punish them and give “more valuable” groups access to vaccines. We are not their judges or juries.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment needs to revise its latest vaccine distribution plan to include prisoner priorities. Governor Jared Polis needs to clarify why public health policies require unbiased risk assessment and response and how it can help us all.