Many States Will Offer Vaccine To Prisoners Before General Public

At least nine states will place prisoners in jails ahead of the general public in getting COVID-19 vaccinations. Those nine states are Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, North Carolina, Montana, Nevada, and New Mexico, according to The Washington Post.

The U.S. currently houses around 1.4 million people in state and federal prisons and nearly a million more in local jails and other detention centers.

In Massachusetts, prisoners will be offered the vaccine before the general public, as the state’s three-phase distribution plan revealed on Wednesday. Inmates will be part of phase one, which also includes healthcare workers, first responders, and those in homeless shelters. Phase two, beginning in February will include high-risk people as well as school teachers, sanitation and public works employees, and adults over 65. Phase three, starting in April, will offer the vaccine to the general public.