BOISE, Idaho — Mass vaccination sites have been popping up throughout the country, as health officials work to get as many people as possible vaccinated against COVID-19.
In Washington state, for example, more than 500,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, as the state opens four mass vaccination sites in central and eastern Washington this week, and more are planned for western Washington in the near future.
But so far, there have been no mass vaccination centers organized in Idaho. Could that change in the near future? We checked in with Central District Health - which is responsible for managing vaccine distribution in Ada, Boise, Elmore and Valley counties - to find out if there are any plans to open mass clinics in the area.
“We're in constant conversations with our community health care partners,” said Randy McLeland, senior planner for Central District Health's public preparedness program.
According to McLeland, mass vaccination sites aren't new to the Gem State.
“We did this extensively during the H1N1 pandemic 10 years ago,” he said.
So why haven't we seen mass vaccination sites yet? McLeland says it comes down to a shortage of supply right now.
“All cards are really on the table as far as how vaccines are pushed out in the community," he said. "The biggest holdback on really initiating anything like that or using that more actively is the general vaccine availability here within Idaho and more specifically here within the Central District Health jurisdictional boundaries."
If CDH were to set up a large area to distribute those vaccines though, it could potentially be somewhere like Extra Mile Arena at Boise State University or at Expo Idaho. CDH has been in talks with both venues recently, according to McLeland.
However, with nearly 100 local providers capable of giving out vaccines, setting up those larger sites isn't the priority.
“We're always looking at those other opportunities and our strategy from a health district standpoint though is really to focus more so on local health care providers and or trying to keep the venue maybe a little bit smaller because of public health concerns around the spread of COVID,” McLeland said. “We have a lot of capability within a number of smaller clinics and create a smaller interface or smaller crowd flow at multiple sites versus doing a large or mass type of situation."
But he understands the waiting is tough.
“The hardest part for all of us is to exercise that patience and to just understand as soon as the infrastructure can support it we'll get the vaccine to everybody,” McLeland said.
CDH has also been in talks with both St. Luke's and Saint Alphonsus, as well as Ada County Paramedics.
Over the weekend, St. Luke's vaccinated nearly 1,500 people at its Meridian campus and, according to McLeland, Ada County Paramedics is planning a scaled-down version of that operation.
Meantime, you've probably seen or heard about drive-thru vaccination sites. From an emergency planning perspective, McLeland said they've always had concerns regarding the safety of those being vaccinated and the staff giving those vaccinations.
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