prisoners before people............swine flu
 

http://www.click2houston.com/news/21447500/detail.html

Prisoners May Get Swine Flu Vaccines

45,000 Convicts Targeted To Receive Vaccine

POSTED: Wednesday, October 28, 2009

AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas prison officials said Tuesday that thousands of high-risk convicts may be vaccinated against the swine flu ahead of the general public as soon as next week.

Michelle Lyons, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman, said more than 45,000 convicts have been targeted to receive the vaccine.

"We have a number of the high-risk groups in prisons -- pregnant women, people with immune deficiencies, with other serious health issues," Lyons said. "In some respects, we're like a nursing home or a college dorm. If the flu were to get started in this environment, it could spread quickly."

The vaccine also will go to more than 40,000 correctional officers and medical personnel who work with the prisoners.

The decision on who gets the vaccine is set by a distribution policy established by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Lyons and officials with the state Department of Health Services said. Under that policy, the initial target groups to receive the shots when the vaccine is first available include pregnant women, health care providers, emergency services personnel and people with medical conditions that put them at highest risk should they get the flu.

"We have been told that we will start receiving doses by around the first of November in lots of 25,000," Lyons said.

She said the prison system has asked for more than 158,000 doses of swine flu vaccine to inoculate all convicts in state prisons and state-contracted private prisons.

If that holds true, prisoners in some parts of Texas could get their shots before members of the general public who might need them.

Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health Services, said the CDC allocates additional doses each week, and state officials then decide who gets them depending on the priority factors.

why not, they have better housing and food then many people out in society why should they not get preferential treatment for vaccines as well?

someday maybe they'll be treated like criminals but probably not in this lifetime.

People confined in a small space can become a breeding ground for the virus.

This is not about giving prisoners anything privileged, it's about containing a pandemic.

Man, you guys are a fucking trip.

Prisons, military barracks and college dorms are the worst places for a disease to take hold. TB is the bigger concern in the prisons with all the drug users and people in generally poor health.

Tom

Do you guys realize how much it would cost the taxpayers if the state allowed massive outbreaks of the swine flu inside prisons?

Oh, wait, I know....just let 'em all die right? They shouldn't have fucked up if they didn't want to be there.

Small minds thinking shortsightedly FTMFL.

The problem there is with the staff being exposed and the visitors comming in and out carrying the disease back to their communities.

As far as all the people in prison dying I wouldnt loose much sleep over that anyway, but an outbreak like that could have serious implications.

Tom

What more could be expected from someone that titles a thread "prisoners before people"?

The way a society treats its lowest members says all you need to know about them. Aside from that, I'd say that anyone who shares that viewpoint doesn't know anyone who got a bullshit rap.

yeah wouldn't want to just not allow visitation for a while. I mean c'mon billy boy has to get his mack on now and then right? can't keep him from that.