Inmate vaccine gap a flashpoint at county meeting

Leon health chief: Work is being done, but they aren't 'highest priority'

Karl Etters Tallahassee Democrat USA TODAY NETWORK – FLORIDA
Tallahassee Democrat, 3/11/2021


Leon County's health administrator said there is work being done to get vaccines into arms inside the Leon County Detention Facility, but vaccinating inmates against COVID-19 is not at the top of the list as they become more available to the general public.

During a testy discussion at Tuesday's County Commission meeting, Health Officer for the Leon County health department Claudia Blackburn said the state health department has not made vaccinating prisoners, including those over age 65, a priority.

There are roughly 30 inmates over age 65 at the jail.

"I don't set the priorities for the state and we have been told we cannot transfer vaccines to the jail," Blackburn said during questioning from County Commissioner Bill Proctor. "The population in the jail is not the highest priority."

"My son is in the jail; do not tell me that again," he told Blackburn before cutting off the exchange and abruptly walking out of the chamber. "Just stop talking."

Proctor's 25-year-old son is in the Leon County Detention Facility on a 2016 arrest in connection with a bank robbery.

The commissioner has repeatedly asked Blackburn for a status update on getting inmates vaccines.

Earlier in the conversation, Blackburn said the Leon County Health Department is working with Bond Community Health Center "to look at the possibility of vaccinating in the jail." Bond is a federally qualified health center that has been operating in conjunction with the health department.

"Why are you looking to Bond Community Health?" Proctor asked. "Why is there such failure to connect? Take them a shot because they can't come to you."

In early February, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dismissed the idea that incarcerated people should be receiving vaccines, including those over 65 with possible comorbidity.

"Whose priorities are you looking out for? We're looking out for our parents and grandparents here in Florida," De-Santis said.

"There's no way you're going to get some prisoner a vaccine over a senior citizen. And so, our seniors-first promise is ironclad."

County Commissioner Nick Maddox asked what the commission could do to nudge the state to make inmates more of a priority, and how them not being one was reminiscent of the way African Americans were treated throughout history.

"My heart is rocked when you said those who are incarcerated or are in jail aren't a priority," he said. "It makes me think when 3/5 was a standard when people like me were looked at."

Blackburn responded that the health department would continue to work to vaccinate inmates who are eligible.

"I definitely want to vaccinate the population in the jail that qualifies and want to be vaccinated," she said. "We thought we had a plan, but it didn't work out. We will find another way."

During commissioner discussion time at the end of the meeting, Proctor provided to his colleagues Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that encourage that staff and inmates at both prisons and in shorter term detention facilities be vaccinated at the same time due to confined space and inability of inmates to distance.

"I'm disappointed and it's hard to have faith in a situation that we are currently isolated from guidelines even though the director said she was abiding by," Proctor said.

"We are not under CDC guidance, and nobody is even trying."

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Contact Karl Etters at ketters@tallahassee. com or @KarlEtters on Twitter.