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THE HSE HAS begun the wider roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines across the prison system.
A small number of individual prisoners hd already received a vaccine, but the HSE is now working systematically through each prison, offering vaccines to all inmates and staff.
Some 1,200 vaccinations were planned for the first two prisons in the roll-out; Portlaoise and Wheatfield prisons.
Vaccinations in prisons are being administered by staff from the National Ambulance Service.
The HSE is expected to this week confirm when the vaccine registration portal will be open to those in the community aged 35-39.
CEO Paul Reid has also said the health service has received assurance from AstraZeneca that its supply lines have been ‘firmed up’ and it will be able to deliver the volume of jabs it has committed to.
He said around 450,000 people who are awaiting a second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine will receive it within the next five weeks. The wait time for a second AstraZeneca dose is being gradually reduced from 12 weeks to eight following advice from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC).
Reid said it is planned that the second doses of AstraZeneca will be completed by 19 July.
The HSE chief said the rollout of the second dose of AstraZeneca will not delay the vaccination rollout for those in younger age cohorts.
Reid also confirmed people who do not wish to receive the second dose of AstraZeneca will not be offered an mRNA vaccine in its place.
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Criminals should definitely be vaccinated before everyone under 40.
@Brian Heffernan: Why shouldn’t they? At the very least it helps protect prison staff.
@Brian Heffernan: simple logistics and cost management. If prisoners get sick and have to go to hospital they then have to be guarded. Not possible to do that in a Covid ward and trying to facilitate a secure ward would cost an absolute fortune.
@Brian Heffernan: you are aware that both prison settings and the health profiles of prisoners put them at a much higher risk of hospitalisation and death. But sure, you dont care because they are ‘criminals’, so their life is expendable.
@Brian Heffernan: even the high risk are not all vaccinated joke
@Thomas O’ Donnell: if it was in the interest of helping prison staff then why not vaccinate the actual prison staff?! I haven’t received my first shot of the vaccine yet, and I am 100% ok with this. I will wait my turn and in time i will get it. However, i find it a bit difficult to take that had i been a s**mbag and tried to murder someone or the likes then i would get the vaccine now. Well ahead of when i will actually receive the vaccine being a law abiding citizen. But look it is what it is, no point getting worked up over it even if it is a bit ridiculous.
@Eoin Jackson: Sadly Eoin everything in ireland is the wrong way round. The guilty are treated as victims while the actual victims and the law abiding are ignored. In the end it’s very simple, the 80 percent in the middle suffer for and pay for everything while the top 10 percent (perhaps less) live lavish lifestyles and the bottom ten percent get whatever they want handed to them simply by shouting and roaring for it and talking about rights and entitlements
@Eoin Jackson: many prisoners will be older than you and would have been vaccinated by now if they were free, so it wont affect your date one way or another. And as such it makes zero sense to go into a prison with enough vaccines for the entire prison population but to only vaccinate the ones who are above the age range. As has been said before it makes logistical sense to vaccinate them all to protect staff, including all the lay staff who work in prisons, like teachers psychologists and probation officers. As for whether or not they “deserve” to be vaccinated because they’ve committed crimes…. well you’re entitled to your opinion on that but by law and according to our constitution prisoners are entitled to their human rights and health care as they would if they were on the outside
@Brian Heffernan: what an appalling statement to come out with. Listen to yourself.
@Ger: well said.
Surely our precious TD’s can get vaccinated first so they can stop their disgraceful waste of taxpayer money renting out that conference centre. Their sense of entitlement is palpable.
@inflation is coming… buy physical silver.: you see its this exact sort of attitude which has meant that TDs/Senators and Oireachtas staff haven’t been vaccinated ahead of the general population population they actually should have been. They are terrified of being labelled as precious and have to endure a media onslaught because of getting getting vaccine “early” they literally can’t win.
@inflation is coming… buy physical silver.: im just curious Mr. SILVER, if you wer able to influence 1000 people to buy silver today, would you benefit personally financially with the rise in prices?
A society should be judged not by how it treats its outstanding citizens but by how it treats its criminals.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
@Sean O’Doherty: always spoken by some who has never been the victim of crime.
@Sean O’Doherty: We’re a great society then….. Most criminals here commit crime after crime with just a warning or suspended sentence. They have no fear of the Gardai or the law.
@MyBrokenKnees: I’m not sure if this was directed at me or Fyodor, but I have been a victim. Home broken into twice, assaulted, pocket picked, and various other minor issues. But I like to think I held onto my compassion and not become vindictive and bitter. If we dehumanise a particular group, as is happening here, it’s a short step to degrading and demeaning any group we don’t like.
@Paul Hedderman: And a lot are locked up for not having a TV licence, or non payment of a fine. They’re not all hardened criminals.
@Sean O’Doherty: did he say it was good or bad to treat them better than non criminals?
@Paul Hedderman: stop painting every one with the same brush.
@Tommy Berry: There is nobody in the entire Prison System locked up for no TV licence. Never has never will be.
If you are given a fine by a court then it means you have been convicted by that court of an offence. The Court will then pass judgement, in the case of a Fine, you will be given a set time to pay said fine and a number of options as how you wish to pay said Fine (So much per week/month etc). But also included the Judgement will be consequences for refusal to pay, usually a set number of days/weeks in custody. But before you are presented to Prison you will have been brought before the Judge to explain why you have refused to pay your fine. And such have a chance to plead your case. And then if you fail to convince the Court of your reasons will a Custody Warrant be issued. The Gardai will then present you to the Prison named on the Warrant, Then depending on the length of sentence and terms contained on the Warrant, a decision will be made by the Prison authorities whether to grant you Full Temporary Release. If granted you will be released as soon as you have been Processed, (Photographed, Details recorded, paperwork completed) roughly about 1hr.
So to sum up, there will be an insignificant number of people in the entire Prison Population in Ireland serving time in lieu of non payment of Fines. Contrary to your initial statement.
Most of our elderly vulnerable law-abiding citizens awaiting their 2nd dose and they begin vaccinating the criminal fraternity. Absolutely disgraceful.
@Raymond Barry: criminal fraternity are still human beings. Get over yourself. What about the consultants vaccinating their family and kids teachers and child minders before the vulnerable. Hypocrisy calling.
I’d be ok with this if the Gardai and prison officers were done first… after all prisoners are already isolated and in puds so to speak..
@Patricia O’Reilly: ha! In pods so to speak. They are constantly cramped into cells with new inmates coming into the system daily and all sharing. Get your facts straight
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