Overreacting Texans need to calm down and think about wisdom of flu-vaccine distribution policy

The last thing needed during this H1N1 pandemic is for the public to be alarmed unnecessarily by manufactured and hyped-up outrage about an issue that makes perfect sense when explained in reasonable and noninflammatory terms.

Yet screaming newspaper headlines and boisterous soundbites on talk radio have aroused many residents to the point of hysteria over that fact that thousands of prisoners in the state penitentiary might be inoculated with the swine flu vaccine before "law-abiding Texans."

It is understandable that many people — in Texas and around the country — are frustrated with the slower-than-expected vaccine production and delivery to major population centers. But that is no reason to become irrational because proper procedures are being followed to give priority to high-risk populations that include pregnant women, those with compromised immune systems and people with medical conditions that put them at a higher risk for complications from the flu.

Texas prisons contain thousands of high-risk people — pregnant women, HIV-positive inmates and those with other severe medical issues — who, if left untreated, could spread the disease not just within the more than 158,000 closely confined men and women inside the prisons but also far beyond their walls.

High-risk inmates are scattered throughout 112 prisons located in communities across the state. More than 40,000 correctional officers and medical personnel — people who go home to their families at the end of their shifts — come in contact with those locked behind bars. Then there are the thousands of family members of inmates who visit, as well as outside vendors and service providers who make contact with people inside those institutions.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials have requested enough swine flu vaccine to inoculate the 45,244 most at-risk individuals immediately and eventually the entire prison population. As of today, the TDCJ has not received any vaccine.

As state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, said: "I can appreciate that people in the free world who are waiting for a shot may not understand why people who are incarcerated are priority, but that doesn’t mean we should allow a catastrophic epidemic inside the very enclosed high-risk populations in prison."

Twenty-three cases of H1N1 within Texas prisons were reported from Sept. 1 through Monday, TDCJ officials said. The state has the responsibility to take every precaution to keep the virus confined to as few inmates and employees as possible.

State and federal lawmakers who are being encouraged by misguided constituents to somehow get involved by changing the distribution policy should resist their instinct to pander. Public health decisions are best left to those most qualified to administer the plans for fighting this pandemic.

Although the list of priorities for those who receive vaccinations first was set months ago by the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this is not a new procedure in Texas. Every year, the same high-risk confined population is given the vaccine for whatever stripe of flu is going around. This year there just happens to be two stripes — the seasonal variety and H1N1.

Within the prison system, medical staff will receive the first doses, followed by correctional officers and other workers and then the inmates.

This is not only a logical plan, but a wise one. There is no need to be riled by the alarmists.

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