Congregate Care Settings And Prisons Now Receiving COVID Vaccine

People in congregate care settings can now get the COVID-19 vaccine. Also included? Those who are incarcerated.

From a story reported on by Western Mass News, about 94,000 people living and working in congregate care settings, like correction facilities, are now able to get the COVID-19 vaccine in Massachusetts.

Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi said he's looking forward to giving the vaccine so inmates will eventually be able to have visitors again.

Sheriff Cocchi went on to say:

We are expecting doses to hit our doorstep later today, tomorrow the latest, and when they do hit we will start vaccinating the staff and inmates immediately.

There have already been 290 medical personnel at the facility who were given the shot.

“We will roll out to all the inmates that said they want the vaccination, which is about 148, and our upwards of 600 staff,” Cocchi said.

About 62 percent of the staff members at the facility said they want to get the vaccine, according to Cocchi. As for the inmate population, about 31 percent want to get the vaccine.

Cocchi also stated that right now there are no inmates with the virus.

Cocchi said once the vaccine is out, the facility will look into having visitors.

For more on this story, please check out the initial story on Western Mass News' website here.