The Legal Aid Society filed a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker on behalf of three persons incarcerated in New York State prisons, demanding that the State grant people in custody the same access to the COVID-19 vaccine that has been afforded others in virtually every other congregate residential setting – settings which by their very nature place individuals at high risk for contracting and transmitting the virus that causes COVID-19, reports the New York Daily News.

To date, only a limited number of incarcerated people in the custody of the New York State Department of Correction and Community Supervision (DOCCS) have been given access to the vaccine. No other congregate residential setting has been subject to the same eligibility restrictions. The lawsuit follows on a previous challenge filed by public defender and civil liberties groups in February seeking vaccine access for people incarcerated in New York City jails, which remains pending.

“(The state has) omitted incarcerated adults as a priority group from the current Phase 1b of the plan, which includes other congregate residential facilities,” the suit reads. “(The) decision to omit incarcerated people as a group to be prioritized undermines both the individual and the public health benefits of vaccination [and] contradicts their stated goal of ensuring equitable access to the vaccine regardless of factors such as wealth or social status.”