BOISE, Idaho — More vaccine shipments have arrived in Idaho as health officials hope for some good news in the battle against COVID-19.
A spokesperson for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare confirms that 28,000 Moderna vaccines have gone out to each of the Gem State’s seven health districts. As of Monday, no one had received the Moderna vaccine yet.
We continue to get a lot of inquiries from the public about when they can expect to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
The timeline was disrupted last week with the news that Pfizer would not be able to make all its promised deliveries of the vaccine.
Idaho was expected to receive 17,550 doses of the Pfizer vaccine through Operation Warp Speed for the week of Dec. 21. On Wednesday, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare learned the state would only be receiving 9,750 doses of the vaccine.
The Idaho COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Committee met for two hours Friday to discuss the priority groups and ensure equitable access to the vaccine across the state.
It was a hectic first week as frontline workers around the state received the first dose of the vaccine. Public health officials said the process went smoothly and they were excited to see some progress being made in the fight against the virus.
The state is now tracking the number of people who get vaccinated on its Idaho coronavirus website. As of Tuesday afternoon, that figure stood at 5,665.
The advisory committee has divided workers to be vaccinated into priority groups and subgroups, starting with healthcare workers who care for COVID patients and residents and staff of long-term care facilities in Idaho. (See chart below)
Once all of those groups have been vaccinated, then health officials can turn their attention to essential workers such as police, firefighters, school teachers and daycare workers. (See chart below)
Again, it is unclear how long it will take to vaccinate those groups of people because the doses are coming out slower than projected. It takes two shots for each person to be fully vaccinated, and those come about 3-4 weeks apart.
Last week, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended that adults 75 and older be next in line for the vaccine. That's about 20 million people in the U.S.
No matter what the CDC says, it will be up to the states to decide who will receive the vaccine and what order it will be distributed.
The latest figures show that the average number of Americans testing positive for the virus is 219,000 per day, while there have 316,000 COVID-19 deaths in U.S.
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