The N.C. Division of Prisons has completed the administration of COVID-19 booster shots to all offenders who consented to the inoculation and were eligible as of Friday, Jan. 13, 2022.

“We have worked hard to get shots in arms, and greatly accelerated this initiative over the past few weeks,” said Commissioner of Prisons Todd Ishee. “This is an ongoing effort to do all that we can to keep people healthy and safe, and we are committed to providing booster shots to willing offenders when they become eligible.”

Booster administration remains ongoing to eligible offenders who change their minds and wish to be boosted as well as to fully vaccinated offenders who become newly eligible and consent to be boosted.

Through a continuing booster campaign with additional vaccines received, Prisons has now provided boosters to around 15,000 offenders. With the assistance of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, medical staff are working to ensure these additional boosters are recorded in the CVMS database.

Prisons medical officials, who consistently monitor the eligibility and administration of vaccinations to offenders, believe 100% of offenders who were eligible and consenting as of last Friday now have received the booster shot while around 35-40 percent of those eligible at that point declined the booster shot. Through extensive education efforts, the number of those accepting a booster increased during this most recent booster initiative.

While vaccinations and booster shots are voluntary, a total of almost 22,000 offenders have been fully vaccinated, which is almost 80 percent of the prison population.

The vast majority of vaccinations and booster shots in the prison system have been with the two-shot Moderna vaccine. Current CDC guidelines call for a five-month interval between the second shot of Moderna and eligibility to receive booster shots.

This means a number of offenders each week will become newly eligible to receive booster shots and, as a result, the booster program will remain ongoing for the foreseeable future. Vaccinations will continue to be offered.

The North Carolina state prison system has taken more than four dozen actions to prevent COVID-19 from getting into the prisons, to help prevent it from spreading to other prisons and to confine it within a prison if it does get in. A list of these actions can be found online at https://www.ncdps.gov/our-organization/adult-correction/prisons/prisons-...