Health Commissioner Explains Decision to Vaccinate Inmates
The public is desperate to get vaccinated and I am committed to make that happen as quickly as possible. It would be easier to do that without all the personal attacks, but that venting will not deter me or my team from the task at hand. – Tom Quade.
Geauga County Health Commissioner Tom Quade pushed back Jan. 22 against concerns over his decision to vaccinate inmates before residents 80 years old and older.
In a public statement, Quade referenced a recent televised news story about the vaccination clinic held Jan. 13 at the Geauga County Safety Center he said left out several facts.
A combination of 38 correction officers, the sheriff and inmates were vaccinated as members of the group understood to be eligible as a congregate setting, Quade said.
Prior to conducting the clinic, Geauga Public Health was conducting clinics for other congregate settings, including people served by Ravenwood Health, Geauga County Board of Developmental Disabilities, an assisted living facility that did not register to be part of the pharmacy program, the women’s shelter, as well as EMS providers spread over multiple fire houses, Quade said, adding those clinics collectively served to vaccinate more than 350 people.
It was not until six days after the Geauga County Safety Center clinic that the 80-plus-year-old residents of the county became eligible to receive the vaccine, he explained.
Had the vaccine not been used for the correctional facility, it still would not have been available to the older residents as they were not yet eligible, Quade added.
Geauga Public Health scheduled three clinics within four days of their eligibility, which will collectively vaccinate another 600 residents, many of whom are 80-plus, he said.
In reference to why the safety center was considered a congregate setting, Quade said at the time it was planned, jails were not excluded in the written guidance from the state.
The description of congregate settings included psychiatric hospitals and rehab residential treatment centers. Quade said psychiatric hospital patient populations, those in residential drug rehabilitation and incarcerated populations have much in common with regard to overall physical health and age distribution of the residents. What puts them at risk is their close living quarters.
“There is no evidence-based public health science supported justification to provide vaccine to those who reside in a psychiatric hospital or drug rehab residence, but deny it to those who are incarcerated,” Quade said. “In fact, we only need to look back to April of 2020 at the state’s largest outbreak in a prison setting to see the stark evidence supporting their inclusion in a vaccination campaign.”
He added, “If I had the benefit of hindsight, I would have done it sooner and maybe we could have prevented the current outbreak involving a dozen or so correction officers and inmates at Geauga County Corrections.”
Sheriff Scott Hildenbrand added, “I’m glad (Quade) did it. Thirty of our employees got the shot that wouldn’t have.”
Quade said he understands the public’s general frustration and likens it to how a lifeguard can be drowned by the very person they are trying to save.
“The public is desperate to get vaccinated and I am committed to make that happen as quickly as possible,” Quade said. “It would be easier to do that without all the personal attacks, but that venting will not deter me or my team from the task at hand.”
