Starting April 5, everyone in Idaho 16 and older will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccine
All Idaho residents at least 16 years old will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine by April 5 — three weeks earlier than planned. And in North Idaho, health officials have already expanded eligibility to everyone effective immediately.
Idaho residents with underlying health conditions, regardless of age, will be eligible starting Monday, Gov. Brad Little announced Wednesday. The Panhandle and North Central health districts — encompassing North Idaho — immediately opened up appointments to anyone 16 and older Wednesday.
Little encouraged more Idaho residents to talk to their doctors if they’re still hesitant about getting the vaccine, and thanked those who have already chosen to get shots.
“You have taken one of the most important steps during our pandemic fight to protect the lives and get us closer to normal,” Little said Wednesday. “The Covid vaccine really is our best shot at protecting jobs, saving lives and keeping our kids in schools. So please choose to receive the vaccine.”
All Idaho residents 45 and older will be eligible for the vaccine effective immediately, state health officials said in a press conference Wednesday. All residents 16 and older in congregate settings are also eligible for the vaccine throughout the state. Those settings include all types of emergency shelters and transitional housing, correctional facilities, workforce housing, residential treatment facilities and dorms.
State health officials allowed separate public health districts to determine whether they could move forward with eligibility groups more quickly. The two public health districts that make up Idaho’s 10 northernmost counties moved to expand vaccine eligibility to everyone 16 and older immediately.
Don Duffy, health services administrator for the Panhandle Health District, said officials decided to move forward with expanding eligibility because of unfilled appointments.
“We have the supply and available appointments but have continued to see a decline in demand,” Duffy said in a press release Wednesday. “At the end of the day, we just want to get people vaccinated who are choosing to receive a vaccine.”
About 600 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been wasted in Idaho as of Wednesday, according to DHW. Officials said reasons include storage and transportation issues or being unable to pull a full dose out of the vial.
Idaho joins other states in rapid expansion of vaccine eligibility
Idaho follows a growing list of states that have recently announced expansions to eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccines. Texas opened up vaccines to all adults beginning next week. Alaska was the first to open up vaccines to all adults, followed by states such as Tennessee and Missouri.
But some states have struggled with that quick expansion as providers were overwhelmed with a surge in demand that led to website crashes and phone jams.
Elke Shaw-Tulloch, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s public health administrator, said Wednesday that the expanded eligibility would better meet the increasing supply.
Some parts of the state have moved through the first priority groups quickly and need more of the population to vaccinate, she said, while more densely populated areas may still struggle with wait times.
“It is going to be that balancing act,” Shaw-Tulloch said. “We felt that increasing who is eligible will help providers.”
Those 45 and older without underlying health conditions were initially scheduled to be eligible for the vaccine by April 5, a date set by state health officials and the COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Committee. The state planned to make all adults eligible for the vaccine by April 26.
The dramatic speedup in the rollout comes two days after the state opened up eligibility to all residents 55 and older. It’s the second time the state dramatically altered its schedule, as requests for appointments slowed down.
Earlier this month, Idaho health officials opened up eligibility to a larger group of essential workers two weeks earlier than planned. Available appointments sat vacant as demand for vaccines didn’t meet the rise in Idaho’s supply.
Shaw-Tulloch said officials have heard from vaccine providers about a struggle to fill appointments. She said expanding the eligibility group would also help the state vaccinate communities more difficult to reach.
“We wanted to be able to allow them that flexibility to move through the population groups a little bit faster, and we also have that increasing supply,” Shaw-Tulloch said Wednesday.
State health officials said they’ve also had to educate vaccine providers when they fail to follow the eligibility criteria.
Idaho has been receiving a little more than 50,000 vaccine doses a week. The state also began to receive another 2,500 Johnson & Johnson single-shot vaccines a week, and state officials anticipate the supply to ramp up in the coming months.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the only one authorized for ages 16 and 17. All three vaccines can be used for those 18 and older.
How Idaho’s COVID-19 vaccine rates compare
Compared to other states, Idaho lags on the percentage of its population that has been vaccinated. Of Western states, only Utah trails Idaho in terms of the percentage of people who have gotten at least one dose.
More than 65% of those 65 and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine in Idaho, according to the state. About 45% of that population is fully vaccinated.
Among residents between ages 55 and 64, who became eligible for the vaccine last week, the percentage of people who received at least one dose drops to 30%.
More than 388,000 Idaho residents have received at least one dose of a vaccine, according to IDHW. Of those, more than 243,000 have been fully vaccinated — less than a fifth of the population 16 and older, according to U.S. Census data. About 28% of the population 16 and older have received at least one shot.
IDHW Director Dave Jeppesen said Idaho has consistently been above the national average on the percentage of doses administered when they’re received.
This story was originally published March 24, 2021 at 12:42 PM.
