Journal of Correctional Health Care - April 2023 - 151

CORRECTIONS OFFICERS' AND SHERIFFS' PERCEPTIONS
151
The approval of three COVID-19 vaccines has been seen
as a public health panacea, but barriers to vaccination still
remain (Akiyama et al., 2020). We sought to better understand
the barriers and facilitators for vaccine rollout
in jails and prisons from the perspectives of sheriffs
and corrections officers.
Method
Survey Development and Distribution
The survey was modified from an Infectious Diseases
Society of America Emerging Infections Network survey
sent to infectious diseases physicians in January 2021
(Beekmann et al., 2021). Our revised survey was piloted
with two jail physicians and five sheriffs who did not participate
as survey respondents. The final survey had 11
closed-ended questions about vaccine rollout for three
different groups: HCWs, staff, and incarcerated individuals
(Supplementary Appendix S1A).
In May 2021, the electronic link for the survey was
sent to executive directors at Massachusetts Correction
Officers Federated Union (MCOFU) and the Major
County Sheriffs of American association; in June 2021,
the leadership of these organizations sent the survey in
a link their 3,700 and 104 members, respectively.
MCOFU also posted access to the survey on its intranet
website in the prisons. The survey was open through
June 20, 2021. No incentives were offered for participation.
Respondent information was unidentifiable, and
consent was given in the survey link.
Quantitative survey responses were analyzed using descriptive
tables and summary statistics. All analyses were
performed using Microsoft Excel. We received an exemption
from the Tufts Health and Sciences institutional
review board.
Results
There were 48 responses from sheriffs and 41 responses
from correctional officers. The majority of respondents
reported that the jails and prisons where they worked
were prepared, quite prepared, or extremely prepared
for COVID-19 vaccine rollout (Table 1). We found that
86%, 86%, and 90% of sheriffs reported that their facility
Table 1. Sheriffs' and Corrections Officers' Responses to Questions About Vaccine Rollout Operationalization for Health Care
Workers, Staff, and Incarcerated People
Sheriffs
HCWs
2 (4)
Staff
Are incentives used to encourage vaccination? (%)
Yes
No
Unsure
No answer
No
Unsure
No answer
No
Unsure
No answer
No
Unsure
No answer
36 (75)
6 (13)
4 (8)
36 (75)
7 (15)
4 (8)
1 (2)
23 (48)
12 (25)
10 (21)
3 (6)
4 (8)
38 (76)
4 (8)
4 (8)
Are there policies to manage postvaccination symptoms? (%)
Yes
38 (79)
7 (15)
1 (2)
2 (4)
27 (56)
16 (34)
1 (2)
4 (8)
Incarcerated people
11 (23)
35 (73)
1 (2)
1 (2)
38 (79)
5 (11)
1 (2)
4 (8)
Are there plans to stagger vaccinations to avoid workforce shortages? (%)
Yes
Not asked
HCWs
3 (7)
13 (32)
18 (44)
7 (17)
5 (12)
9 (22)
23 (56)
4 (10)
4 (10)
13 (31)
20 (49)
4 (10)
Should COVID-19 vaccination, once a vaccine has full FDA approval, be mandatory? (%)
Yes
15 (31)
26 (54)
5 (11)
2 (4)
0 (0)
0 (0)
14 (29)
29 (61)
3 (6)
2 (4)
1 (2)
1 (2)
11 (23)
30 (62)
6 (13)
1 (2)
0 (0)
2 (4)
8 (20)
28 (68)
3 (7)
2 (5)
How would you rate your facility's preparedness for vaccine rollout for the following groups? (%)
Not prepared at all
Little preparedness
Prepared
0 (0)
3 (7)
8 (17)
Quite prepared
Extremely prepared
Not applicable
No answer
10 (21)
23 (48)
5 (10)
2 (4)
7 (15)
10 (21)
24 (50)
2 (4)
3 (6)
10 (21)
8 (17)
25 (52)
0 (0)
3 (6)
7 (17)
7 (17)
6 (15)
14 (34)
4 (10)
FDA, Food and Drug Administration; HCWs, health care workers; Staff, correctional facility staff.
Corrections officers
Staff
3 (7)
15 (37)
15 (37)
8 (19)
7 (17)
17 (41)
13 (32)
4 (10)
6 (15)
20 (49)
10 (24)
5 (12)
8 (20)
28 (68)
2 (5)
3 (7)
2 (5)
6 (15)
8 (19)
12 (29)
8 (19)
2 (5)
3 (7)
9 (22)
25 (61)
4 (10)
3 (7)
1 (2)
3 (8)
12 (29)
9 (22)
11 (27)
1 (2)
4 (10)
Incarcerated people
4 (10)
14 (34)
16 (39)
7 (17)
13 (32)
9 (22)
13 (32)
6 (14)
Not asked
Journal of Correctional Health Care - April 2023

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