Staff at Saskatchewan Penitentiary in Prince Albert are still self-isolating while they’re not working as part of a public health order, according to a union representative.
Staff at Saskatchewan Penitentiary in Prince Albert are still self-isolating while they’re not working as part of a public health order, according to a union representative.
HALIFAX The Springhill Penitentiary in Springhill, N.S., is one of five federal prisons slated to receive COVID-19 vaccines to start administering to their inmates. The pilot project put on by the federal government will begin Friday, when elderly prisoners and those with pre-existing conditions will be the first to receive the shots. Prison officers and employees are not part of the program, according to the union representing Canadian correctional officers. As part of the initial rollout, 1,200 doses of the Moderna vaccine will be delivered to five prisons across the country. In total, 600 federal inmates will receive the vaccine, with each inmate receiving the required two shots within a few weeks.
OTTAWA A union representing federal prison guards says vaccinating them against COVID-19 should be a priority, given their front-line role in correctional institutions.
Members should be inoculated at their workplaces as quickly as possible, said Jeff Wilkins, national president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers.
The call came Wednesday amid word from the union that the Correctional Service would begin vaccinating inmates this week.
In a statement late Wednesday, the Correctional Service said it expected to begin vaccinating older, medically vulnerable federal inmates Friday against COVID-19 as part of the first phase of the vaccine rollout, as recommended by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization.