DENVER (KDVR) — Inmates at Denver’s Downtown Detention Center are now able to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Denver Health nurses administered the vaccine to 22 out of the 38 people who were eligible Wednesday. Thursday, they’ll offer the vaccine to inmates at the Denver County Jail.
“I thought I need to get it,” said Dan, one of the inmates who received the vaccine. He’s 63 years old and currently held on a trespassing charge. He – like all the inmates who received the vaccine – are eligible under the state’s guidelines.
Like many detention facilities, the Downtown Detention Center has struggled to contain the virus at times.
Since the pandemic began, 779 inmates downtown have tested positive for COVID-19, along with dozens of employees.
At one point in December, at least 170 inmates downtown had COVID. That was when they did not have to wear masks outside their cells. Now they do and just four have confirmed cases of COVID.
“It’s been a tremendous struggle for us,” said Sheriff Elias Diggins. “It’s something that I never would’ve thought in my time with the Sheriff’s Department that we would have ever had to face.”
Diggins has worked for the department for 27 years and was appointed Sheriff in July.
“We’re going to not just play defense with COVID,” Diggins said. “We’re going to play offense, as well.”
Diggins, along with the Denver Health nurses who are assigned to the jail, believe that vaccinating inmates benefits everyone in the Denver area.
“The more patients we can vaccinate, the safer our population is, the safer our staff are ,” said Carmen Kassatly, Denver Health Health Services Administrator. “A majority of this population will release back into the community. So if they are vaccinated, we help eliminate spread.”
Inmates in Denver currently spend about 40 days in jail, on average, before they’re released.
Nurses give them a packet of information with a number of options about where they can receive their second shot if they’re released before it’s scheduled.
Soon, nurses hope to be able to offer the vaccine to all inmates. They’ve also ordered the Johnson & Johnson one-dose vaccine and will offer that to inmates when it’s available.