FRANKLIN, Ind. — Of the 340 inmates being kept at the Johnson County Jail only 58 actually wanted to get the coronavirus vaccine this week.
The jail was pushing for inmates to get vaccinated this week after a small outbreak of the virus within the jail over the weekend. 282 inmates chose to opt-out of getting the vaccine, says Sheriff Duane Burgess.
“I was sad to see that just only 58 inmates this morning took that shot,” he said to WISH-TV. “This morning during ‘med pass,’ many inmates were like, ‘We are not doing it. We are just not going to do it. We are not going to be guinea pigs,’ and I get it. That is their right and we just had to deal with it.”
The jail has been on lockdown since the weekend after a group of inmates tested positive for COVID-19, which prompted the jail to push for inmates to get vaccinated.
The jail was able to secure roughly 400 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in order to take advantage of the single-shot process. For now, the 58 inmates who got vaccinated will have to follow the same rules as those who did not get vaccinated at least for the next 14 to 30 days.
“I will sit down with our health department, our medical authority in the jail, and see where they are at and have them help me guide that ship and where we need to be to make sure that we can be safe,” Burgess said.
So far no inmates have reported any symptoms that require being taken to the hospital. The jail plans to keep the extra vaccine doses on hand in case any inmates change their minds.
