About half of Santa Clara County sheriff’s employees refused the vaccine

About half of Santa Clara County sheriff’s employees have refused to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, which, according to the office, employs dozens of staff members in prisons without vaccination.

Although 861 of the department’s more than 1,800 employees received both doses of the vaccine, nearly 800 more refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine, sheriff’s officials reported Thursday during a meeting of the public safety committee. and justice. Another 200 or so employees do not yet qualify to receive it.

The huge bounce shook provincial overseers Thursday, especially as the number of inmates infected has risen by more than 500 since the start of the new year. Of the employees who turned down the vaccine, about 400 work in the conservation department.

“I’m a little speechless,” said Susan Ellenberg, County Supervisor. “We can not significantly reduce or eliminate outbreaks in prisons if there are people coming into prison daily who have not been vaccinated.”

At least 536 prisoners in the country have received COVID-19 since March last year, according to the sheriff’s reporting board, with almost half of the cases reported since the start of 2021. In early January, the prisons reported 36 and 35 new cases within the same week, the two highest one-day totals ever. The dashboard has not been updated since January 18th.

Sheriff Laurie Smith said there were a number of reasons why staff refused the vaccine. Some have cited medical reasons, while others work on cemetery shifts which, according to the office, make it difficult to plan an appointment. The deputy union spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“The fundamental question is whether we need it – and if not, what can we do?” Smith said.

The answer is not yet legally clear, Jeff Smith said. For now, sheriff’s officials have told unvaccinated deputies to wear N-95 masks; imprisoned people get cloth masks.

However, Jeff Smith dismissed the office’s statement that the vaccination rate could be to blame for logistical problems.

“The biggest problem is that people are refusing the vaccine,” Jeff Smith said. “It’s not that there is no access.”

The lower vaccination rate is in contrast to other public safety departments in the area. As of January 12, about 71% of San Jose firefighters, including emergency medical technicians and paramedics, had received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, according to a city report at the time.

From January 14, the city’s leading workers in conservation agencies, law enforcement and 911 dispatches are expected to receive their first doses of the vaccine, and firefighters will need to receive their second dose. The city on Thursday did not want to provide updated statistics to this news organization.

County provincial defender Molly O’Neal said in a text on Friday that her office would take a vaccine that was refused by the sheriff’s staff because ‘we really need it, we want it and we believe in science. ‘ Last week, dozens of defenders asked the meeting of the Board of Supervisors in Santa Clara to ask to be vaccinated or to sign a letter asking them to be vaccinated.

“Any surveillance personnel who refuse to be vaccinated should be removed from the detention facility as a danger to inmates,” O’Neal added.

Ellenberg asked that ‘proactive education’ or a town hall be offered to ask delegates questions or work through their concerns in the coming weeks.

“For the thousands of people who remain in our custody, we need to protect and protect them,” Ellenberg said. “To the extent that staff do not contribute to their safety by refusing to be vaccinated, we must take additional steps to protect the people who do not have a choice.”