Today I have received a lot of questions about the email that circulated today regarding the COVID vaccine. The wording that all staff are expected to get the vaccine has caused many to think it will be mandator. I spoke with Warden Johnson today about this email. He agreed with my interpretation that expected is not the same as mandatory. We also agreed that this is not happening right now and let’s wait until it comes before adding any stress to our already hectic lives. in case you were unaware, at HDSP alone, we have 84 staff out with positive COVID tests and quarantine. Of the 84, around 44 custody staff are positive and 5 non custody. I was also informed that Humboldt camp has 77 inmates positive for COVID. Humboldt is very remote and small. I believe HDSP has around 34 inmates that are positive at this time. Brothers and Sisters, regardless of your outlook on the virus, we all need to be diligent in our daily lives. Clean all that you can, and make sure the inmates are cleaning as well. Take precautions and let’s all work together to get through this. We will overcome this situation together. Take care of each other and be safe!
Lunkwitz
Although I think an attempt to return back to "Normal" may require more if not all vaccinations but at the same time I agree that the email was confusing and appeared as it was required to vaccinate. I personally will take the vaccine but I also strongly support individuals to make their own decisions on what is best for them and their families. That said, I encourage everyone to get it but ultimately that will be all up to us to come to that conclusion. Thank you lunk for having that conversation with Warden Johnson and sharing with us.
Excellent
Very well said Brother Ward! I did see the second email today. They sent it out after I got off of work yesterday. The Warden also confirmed at today’s town hall that it is not mandatory.
To touch on what Lunkwitz has posted it should be noted that the email that I saw starts out by saying that the vaccination is "not a condition of employment", meaning that if you did refuse it you likely wouldn't be fired because it isn't a condition of employment (yet). In addition to that there hasn't been a Vaccine that has been FDA approved just yet, there are two companies that have applied for emergency use of it's 2 shot series Covid-19 vaccination they are Pfizer and Moderna, Pfizer's Vaccine clinical trials resulted in a 95% effective rate and Moderna 94.5%, FDA says it will likely take about 3 weeks to review all the data provided by the companies before…