CORONAVIRUS — VACCINATIONS — PRISONERS
109. Hon Dr BRAD PETTITT to the minister representing the
Minister for Corrective Services:
I refer to question without notice
52 and the response —
Additionally, at any time prisoners
can approach health services staff to register their interest in receiving a vaccination.
(1) Are people in
prison who have registered their interest for receiving a COVID-19 vaccination
placed on a waitlist; and, if not, how are registrations of interest recorded
and responded to?
(2) How many
people in prison have registered their interest to receive a COVID-19
vaccination to date and how many are still waiting?
(3) What is the
average wait time for people in prison to receive a COVID-19 vaccination once
they have registered interest, and what is the longest a person in prison has
had to wait for a COVID-19 vaccination?
(4) What
percentage of people in prison who registered their interest are up-to-date
with their COVID-19 vaccinations?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the question.
The following information has been provided by the Minister for Corrective
Services.
(1) The department has a statewide register of all
prisoners who are due vaccines at any given time that clearly identifies
the number of prisoners who require dose one, dose two or a booster dose. These
numbers are used to plan where and when the
clinics are required. Vaccine provision is not restricted to those who have
previously expressed an interest.
(2)–(3) The
department has engaged a private medical provider to undertake a mass
vaccination program across all prisons and detention centres, which commenced
on 15 February 2022. Following this, the private medical provider is contracted
to undertake a rolling vaccination program on a needs basis. Expressions of
interest were called for from January 2022 and the present clinics commenced on
15 February 2022. As part of the mass vaccination program in prisons, prior
vaccination clinics were held in November and December. Clinics are now being
held for all prison sites and detention centres. The longest time that a prisoner
has had to wait for a vaccine is three months—from the last clinics to
the present clinics.
(4) The percentages are 12.2 per cent, or 624
prisoners, have received one dose; 53.5 per cent, or 3 441 prisoners,
have received two doses of the vaccine; and 11.7 per cent, or 749 prisoners,
have received three doses of the vaccine. Overall, 77.4 per cent of prisoners
have received at least one dose of the vaccine.