Fewer than half of Ottawa inmates have 1 dose of COVID-19 vaccine – CBC
Outbreak at Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre now longer than 1 month
Jan 26, 2022
Ottawa’s top doctor says she’s concerned with the vaccination rate of inmates at the Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre as the jail continues to deal with another large COVID-19 outbreak.
As of Tuesday’s daily report, nearly 90 inmates and staff at the Innes Road jail tested positive for COVID-19 in an outbreak first declared by Ottawa Public Health (OPH) on Dec. 21.
Dr. Vera Etches, Ottawa’s medical officer of health, said throughout the pandemic OPH has been working with the jail and Ontario’s solicitor general to manage outbreaks and facilitate the immunization of inmates.
The jail also faced a large outbreak during the third wave of the pandemic, but that wasn’t as large as the current one.
Vaccine uptake and confidence in public health has increased since that time, Etches says, but still remains an issue. About 43 per cent of the 482 inmates in provincial custody have at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the Ministry of the Solicitor General.
