Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association fights vaccine mandate

 BPR is reporting: 

Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has mandated that. 

"state correction institutions would be required to be fully vaccinated by September 7, 2021, or be required to submit to COVID-19 testing. New employees would be required to be vaccinated prior to employment in these facilities."

Of note the PSCOA says 3,700 CO's have been infected with the Corona Virus!

The PSCOA responded:

John Eckenrode, President              Hank McNair, Executive Vice President             Aaron King, Vice President              Mark Truszkowski, Vice President             jeckenrode@pscoa.org                                            hmcnair@pscoa.org                                              aking@pscoa.org                                    mtruszkowski@pscoa.org        Raymond Johnston, Secretary/Treasurer  rjohnston@pscoa.org

2421 North Front Street Harrisburg, PA 17110-1110 (717) 364-1700 Phone (717) 364-1705 Fax Patrolling the Toughest Blocks in the State WWW.PSCOA.ORG

PENNSYLVANIA STATE CORRECTIONS OFFICERS ASSOCIATION

 

 

 

 

Aug. 12, 2021

 

Hon. Tom Wolf, Governor

Office of the Governor
508 Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120

 

Dear Gov. Wolf:

 

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Corrections employees have gone to work every day in horrible conditions. They have worked excruciatingly long hours and weeks without days off. Throughout this pandemic, they have maintained a level of dedication and professionalism. Your decision this week to mandate vaccinations and/or testing is a slap in the face – and, frankly, way too late because thousands of our members already have been infected, due to your inaction.

 This is the latest episode of what has been a woefully inconsistent vaccination/testing/masking policy by this administration in our state prisons. PSCOA has instructed legal counsel to challenge this latest proposed policy change. 

We have always believed receiving the COVID-19 vaccine should be a choice for all Americans, but Corrections employees who want it should be prioritized, given our work conditions. In January, PSCOA called on Acting Department of Health Secretary Alison Beam to prioritize COVID-19 vaccinations of Corrections employees. 

Instead, smokers were given priority.

 Employees were left on their own to get vaccinated. Thousands did just that – when they could find them. Vaccinations were finally made available by your administration two months later at the end of March. Unfortunately, during the winter surge of the virus, thousands of Corrections employees were infected.

 Prison transfers only made conditions worse. PSCOA repeatedly called on your administration to stop all transfers. Despite the Department of Corrections’ claim that it was safely isolating prisoners, anyone who has even a basic knowledge of how a virus works understands transfers were spreading it from prison to prison.

 To date, nearly 3,700 Corrections employees have been infected, but the truth is we expect the number is significantly higher and many more have attained natural immunity. Yet for some unknown reason, natural immunity is being ignored by federal health officials and this administration.  

A study done in February in Nature used antibody screenings from California and found seven times as many cases as those that were confirmed. (Study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-82662-x)

 Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis reported that mild infection immune cells were still capable of producing protective antibodies after 11 months. They concluded that natural immunity to COVID-19 is probably lifelong. (Study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03647-4)

 Other inconsistencies are troubling and further support our move to take legal action on behalf of our Officers.

 Your proposed testing plan is inconsistent and won’t increase safety because you don’t require other individuals, such as family members of inmates, contractors, vendors or volunteers to be tested. 

As for masking, our members are required to wear them, but inmates are not. In fact, the current policy concerning inmate masking states, “No force or misconduct should be issued to enforce compliance.” Once again, this does not in any way improve safety in congregate settings. 

For months, our reasonable requests have fallen on deaf ears. Pennsylvania’s Corrections employees deserve better.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

John Eckenrode, President

PSCOA

 

 

 

cc: Pennsylvania General Assembly