TY - JOUR
AU - Wilkinson, Maxim
AU - Bishop, Jennifer
AU - Gribben, Ciara
AU - Taylor, Bob
AU - Cameron, Claire
AU - Stockton, Diane L.
AU - Yeung, Alan
AU - Palmateer, Norah E.
AU - Hutchinson, Sharon J.
PY - 2025
DA - January
TI - COVID-19 vaccination uptake and risk of severe COVID-19 disease among those in, and released from, prison care in Scotland: a national cohort and case-control study
JO - International Journal of Drug Policy
AB - Objectives Given the potential higher risk of COVID-19 infection and disease for those incarcerated, we examined uptake of, and factors associated with vaccination, and the risks of severe disease for those in, and released from, prison in Scotland. Methods During follow-up (01/03/2020 to 13/04/2022), vaccine uptake among ~15,000 individuals in prison, and following release, was compared with general population matched controls. Conditional logistic regression was used to compare prison status of ~72,000 individuals admitted or died due to COVID-19 during follow-up to matched controls. Results By the end of follow-up, similar vaccine uptake was observed among those in prison (dose 1: 73.4%, dose 2: 64.2% and dose 3: 43.4%) compared to matched controls (72.9%, 67.9% and 48.7%). Individuals released (with &lt;14 days incarcerated) were less likely to receive a first dose (aOR: 0.57, CI: 0.52, 0.66) than those who remained in prison. Following first and second doses, those released during the subsequent 12 weeks were less likely to receive their subsequent dose compared to those continuously incarcerated (aORs: 0.48, CI: 0.43, 0.54; 0.35, CI: 0.31, 0.40, respectively). Compared to the wider community outside prison, those incarcerated and recently released were more likely to be admitted or die from COVID-19 (aORs: 3.08, CI: 2.58, 3.69; and 4.53, CI: 3.37, 6.09, respectively). Conclusions Our findings highlight the important role of prisons in facilitating rapid high coverage of vaccination, involving accelerated schedules where appropriate, to help mitigate the raised risk of severe disease outcomes among both those incarcerated and released into the community.
PB - Elsevier
UR - https://researchonline.gcu.ac.uk/en/publications/8418f18b-c9bb-4808-a937-a0e8205a7b3e
KW - Coronavirus (COVID-19)
KW - Immunisation and screening
KW - Environment, community and place
ER