KINGSTON, ONT. -- Correctional Service Canada (CSC) is in the process of vaccinating federal inmates it deems the most vulnerable at six Kingston-area prisons, CTV News Ottawa confirms.
Earlier this month, CTV News Ottawa first reported that 600 federal inmates across the country would be receiving the Moderna vaccine as part of the federal government’s plan to vaccinate those who are older and more medically vulnerable to the virus.
The CSC says inmates at six institutions across Kingston are receiving the inoculations:
- Bath Institution
- Bath Institution Regional Treatment Centre
- Collins Bay Institution
- Joyceville Institution
- Millhaven Institution
- Millhaven Institutuin Regional Treatment Centre
Isabelle Robitaille, the CSC’s senior communications advisor, says in a statement:
“It is expected that CSC will have completed its first phase of COVID-19 vaccinations in the next few days,” she writes. “CSC medical staff used guidance developed by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) to determine which inmates would be offered access to the vaccine.”
Robitaille was unable to confirm how many inmates had received the vaccines in the Kingston region as of press time. She said those who had received their first dose would receive their second in the coming weeks.
In Ontario, inmates at other institutions have also received the vaccine, including the Beaver Creek Institution in Gravenhurst, Kitchener’s Grand Valley Institution for Women and the Warkworth Institution, located near Campellford.
Joyceville Institution currently has the largest COVID-19 outbreak in the province with 160 cases identified since the outbreak began on Dec. 17, 2020.
A total of 1,200 doses will go out across the country.
Currently, those 600 inmates are the only ones set to receive COVID-19 vaccinations, despite calls from supporters to vaccinate all inmates.
“As further supply of the vaccine becomes available, it will eventually be offered to all federal inmates based on NACI prioritization guidance,” says Robitaille.
