Vaccinating Prisons

With the worldwide pandemic of Covid-19, the CDC is looking for a vaccine for this virus. A problem we have is how to test these vaccinations. One option is to test it on convicted criminals. I personally think that, although it should not be forced on them (even convicted criminals have basic ethical human rights), they should be the front runners for testing. One idea could be that they are rewarded for taking the vaccination, but not required.

Once you’ve committed a crime, some rights as a US citizen are relinquished. Some of these rights put them before law abiding citizens. This should include things like vaccination testing. We can look at the age old question, should you kill one person to save many? This is another look at this question, with a slight bias: do you kill the criminal to save the world? Although it isn’t so extreme, the point still stands, should we put the world at risk to save the criminal, or vice versa?

Criminals shouldn’t be treated much differently in context of testing vaccines, it should be an option given to them with incentive, just as a test would be given to the average Joe. Just because they have relinquished some rights doesn’t mean they should be forced to be tested, but they also shouldn’t be completely ignored for testing.