Vaccine mandates should cover the incarcerated, too, not just prison guards and workers

Federal, state, and local vaccine mandates are being opposed by several high-profile groups, including firefighters, nurses, and corrections officers. Opposition of the latter to vaccine mandates highlights an illogical situation that has developed with little discussion: To date, neither the federal government nor any state or municipality has officially mandated the jab for their incarcerated populations. That doesn’t make sense: Prisoners, who are at higher risk for infection and death than corrections officers, aren’t required to get vaccinated while corrections officers, who are at lower risk, are being told they must get vaccinated. In New York, corrections officers marched across the Brooklyn Bridge in late October to protest New York City’s vaccine mandate. About 40% of Massachusetts prison guards aren’t vaccinated, and they lost their latest bid to not comply with the state’s vaccine mandate. In Connecticut, where I was once incarcerated, almost one-third of employees resisting vaccination are corrections officers.