Two Pa prisons have vaccinated more than 70% of inmates An incentive program may be making a difference lancasteronline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lancasteronline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Handout from Department of Corrections
Early in January, Angelo Romero sat in his cell at SCI-Smithfield and thought that there would be no way people incarcerated, like himself, would get the COVID-19 vaccine.
“The inmates don’t stand a chance on being vaccinated if it’s going to cost the [Department of Corrections] money,” he wrote in a letter to Spotlight PA.
But to Romero’s surprise along with prisoners’ rights advocates, public health experts, and even other inmates the opposite has happened.
Three out of the state’s 23 prisons have so far offered vaccines to inmates and staff, and the number of inmates who have gotten the vaccine at two of those facilities is upwards of 70% no small feat for a department that, on average, vaccinates just over a quarter of its population for the flu.
. HARRISBURG Early in January, Angelo Romero sat in his cell at SCI-Smithfield and thought there would be no way people incarcerated, like himself, would get the COVID-19 vaccine. “The inmates don’t stand a chance on being vaccinated if it’s going to cost the [Department of Corrections] money,” he wrote in a letter to Spotlight PA. But to Romero’s surprise along with prisoners’ rights advocates, public health experts, and even other inmates the opposite has happened. Three out of the state’s 23 prisons have so far offered vaccines to inmates and staff, and the number of inmates who have gotten the vaccine at two of those facilities is upwards of 70% no small feat for a department that, on average, vaccinates just over a quarter of its population for the flu.
Two Pa prisons have vaccinated more than 70% of inmates An incentive program may be the difference pennlive.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pennlive.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
When the message matters, use science to craft it An interdisciplinary initiative called the Message Effects Lab aims to understand, tap into, and develop communication around what motivates specific behaviors for specific populations. Its first projects center around COVID-19 testing and vaccines.
Penn researcher Jessica Fishman has always been fascinated by what sways decision-making.
“As a teenager, one word could dramatically influence whether I wanted to do something,” she says. “I remember once, when my dad was excited to serve his family a fish dinner, he proudly announced that the fish cost very little. For him, this was good because food was hard to come by when he was growing up. But for me, his description of the ‘cheap’ fish signaled it was of little value or even undesirable rather than a good deal. It immediately decreased my interest in eating that food. We now know a lot more about the types of messages that can backfire.”