Increasing availability of COVID-19 vaccine to older adults under community supervision

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPH-06-2022-0035
• Published date: 15 November 2022
• Date: 15 November 2022
• Pages: 88-94
• Subject Matter: Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Prisoner health,Sociology,Sociology of crime & law,Public policy & environmental management,Policing,Criminal justice
• Author: Emily Dauria,Angelo Clemenzi-Allen,Kathryn Nowotny,Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein,Brie Williams,Alysse Wurcel

Increasing availability of COVID-19 vaccine

to older adults under community supervision

Emily Dauria, Angelo Clemenzi-Allen, Kathryn Nowotny, Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein,

Brie Williams and Alysse Wurcel

Abstract

Purpose –Vaccinating adults whoare involved with the carceral system, particularlythose aged 55 or

older, is crucial to containing the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA, particularly as variants continue to

emerge and spread. In this Viewpoint, the authors discuss the reasons why improving access to

COVID-19 vaccine and boostersamong community supervised adults, especially the aging population,

is critical to mitigatingthe public health consequences of the COVID-19pandemic. This study concludes

by providing recommendations to enhance vaccine and booster uptake in this population, as the

pandemiccontinues.

Design/methodology/approach –This is a Viewpoint paperregarding mitigating the spread of COVID-

19 by improving access to vaccine and boosters among community supervised adults, especially the

aging population.

Findings –A key population thathas been overlooked in vaccination efforts are olderadults involved in

the carceralsystem who are living in the community (i.e.‘‘community supervised’’ or people onprobation

or parole). Olderadults on probation and parole are at high risk for SARS-CoV-2transmission and severe

diseasedue to numerous factors at the individual,community, social and structural levels.

Originality/value –Implementation of recommendations presented in this Viewpoint will mitigate

COVID-19 risk among a population that has been marginalized and overlooked, yet has been the

epicenterof the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords COVID-19, Carceral system, Vaccine, Health-care access, Health disparities

Paper type Viewpoint

Individuals involved in the carceral system havebeen at the epicenter of the COVID-19

pandemic in the USA. As of September 2022, there have been 622,494 COVID-19

cases among people incarcerated in prisons, resulting in the deaths of >2,900 people

(The COVID Prison Project, 2022a). Despite this grim reality, efforts to improve access to

vaccines and boosters for adults involved in the carceral system are limited in scale. Thirty

states have reported vaccinating individuals involved in the carceral system, however, the

scope of vaccine distribution efforts has waned and been limited to people incarcerated in

detention settings (The COVID Prison Project, 2022b). Systematic efforts omit individuals on

probation and parole; a population representing approximately 74% of people involved in

the carceral system (Pew Charitable Trusts, 2021), totaling nearly 4.4 million (or 1 in 58)

American adults (Kaeble and Alper, 2020). A growing segment of this population, those

aged 55 years or older (Wildeman et al., 2019), continue to be at an increased risk of

serious illness, hospitalization and mortality due to COVID-19 and should be targeted for

on-going vaccination and booster efforts. In this Viewpoint we discuss the reasons why

prioritizing adults involved in the carceral system who are living in the community (i.e.

“community supervised” or people on probation or parole), particularly older adults, is

critical to containing the COVID-19 pandemic.We conclude by providing recommendations

designed to enhance access to and uptakeof vaccine booster shots in this population.

(Informationabout the

authorscan be found at the

end of this article.)

Received 3 June 2022

Revised 6 October 2022

Accepted 10 October 2022

Dr Emily Dauria’s effort on this

work was supported by the

National Institute on Drug

Abuse [R34DA050480; PI

Dauria].

PAGE 88 jINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRISONER HEALTH jVOL. 19 NO. 1 2023, pp. 88-94, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1744-9200 DOI 10.1108/IJPH-06-2022-0035