The majority of inmates at Saint Lucia’s Bordelais Correctional Facility (BCF) have refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine, with the result that nearly ninety percent of the estimated 480 prisoners there remain unvaccinated, reliable sources say.
The vaccines are usually administered by health care personnel who visit the prison.
But officials say because of the low level of interest by inmates and the logistics involved in health teams visiting the BCF, individual prisoners who want to get vaccinated can obtain the jab when appointments are made at hospitals.
Among staff of the institution however, the figure in relation to whose who have obtained the COVID-19 vaccine is uncertain as several employees make independent arrangements.
According to information obtained by St Lucia Times, inmates who choose not to get vaccinated cite various reasons including what was described as ‘conspiracy theories’.
Last week, due to the surge locally in COVID-19 cases, the BCF reinstituted a halt to in person visits to inmates, officials say.
Earlier this year, there was an outbreak of COVID-19 at the BCF, with the Ministry of Health announcing on February 28 that the the Ezra Long Laboratory had confirmed 105 positive cases among inmates.
Before that on February 3, 2021, the BCF confirmed the COVID-19 related death of an inmate who was incarcerated for the possession of ammunition in November 2019.
However, officials say the correctional facility is currently ‘COVID free’ with strict protocols in place to prevent infection.
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