VIGO COUNTY, Ind.  – On Wednesday the inmates at the Vigo County Jail received COVID-19 vaccinations.

Officials say that around 100 of the jail’s nearly 290 inmates requested to be vaccinated.

They received the one-dose Johnson & Johnson shot.

The sheriff says this is a big step in the ongoing coronavirus response.

Those who received the vaccine will have a shot record. This will go with them should they have to go to the Department of Corrections or when they are released from the Vigo County Jail.

Jails and prisons around the country have been sites of COVID infections due to the close proximity of inmates and the inability to adequately separate many inmates.