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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- Those in charge of the Blair County Prison recently followed through on plans to make COVID-19 vaccinations available to inmates and staff.
Warden Abbie Tate told the prison board on Thursday that Deputy Warden James Eckard worked with Tyrone Community Pharmacy to set up the prison's vaccination clinic.
About 40 shots were given on May 14, in the prison's laundry, Tate said.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine proved to be popular because it's a one-shot vaccine, but recipients also had the option of getting the Moderna vaccine administered in two shots.
The pharmacy, Tate said, will be returning to provide the second Moderna shot to those who received the first one.
It's also willing, she added, to return monthly to the prison for additional clinics.
One option the prison might consider, Tate said, would be to make vaccinations available to the attorneys who regularly visit. That would create easy access to the vaccine for them, she said.
While COVID-19 vaccines were initially scarce in Blair County based on limited distributions, they're now available at several locations in the community.
Vaccinations have been recognized as the most effective means of overcoming the widespread COVID-19 pandemic linked to 334 deaths in Blair County.
Last year when the COVID-19 pandemic developed, the prison initially kept the virus outside its walls. But as COVID-19 cases climbed in Blair County, the prison's staff and inmates became ill with respiratory and related symptoms, which prompted the facility to close to all visitors.
Ill staff members were required to stay home and isolate themselves from others until deemed able to return to work.
Tate told the prison board that the prison currently has no COVID-19 cases among staff or inmates. The last couple of COVID-19 tests generated negative results, she said.
The prison board, after convening monthly meetings via telephone and video connections since last year, met Thursday in the commissioners meeting room in the basement of the courthouse.
June's meeting, typically scheduled for a small conference room at the prison, also will be held in the commissioners meeting room where those attending have room to be physically distanced from others. The prison's conference room is too small for that, prison board Chairman A.C. Stickel said.
Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.