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Blaine County Leads the State in Vaccinations as Idaho Unveils Vaccine Appointment System
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Saturday, March 6, 2021
 

BY KAREN BOSSICK

GRAPH BY PAUL RIES

Idaho launched a new COVID-19 vaccine appointment statewide wait-list Friday.

The new system is designed to provide a single point of entry for those who don’t relish having to check a half-dozen vaccine provider websites multiple times a day to see if anyone is taking appointments for vaccines.

Go to https://covidvaccine.idaho.gov to get on the list. A provider in the Wood River Valley will contact you when they have vaccine available to schedule an appointment. Those who are not yet eligible for the vaccine may put their names on the list now. Providers will contact those people when they become eligible.

Wood River Valley residents an also sign up at the South Central Public Health District website at https://www.phd5.idaho.gov/Covid-vaccine-priority/

And St. Luke’s is finalizing a signup list that will allow hospital officials to contact those waiting for vaccines.

MOVING ON TO THE NEXT GROUP

Central District Health in Boise is opening COVID-19 vaccine appointments to an estimated 43,000 essential workers in its region  who qualify for the vaccine under Subgroup 2.3 this Saturday—a week ahead of March 15 when those in Subgroup 2.3 become eligible statewide. Those include postal employees, grocery and convenience store clerks, bus drivers and residents of homeless shelter.

The district has seen a dramatic decrease in demand from those 65 and older this past week even as it sees a sizeable increase in the number of vaccines coming, CDH Director Russ Duke told KTVB.

South Central Public Health District, which encompasses Blaine County, will not open to Subgroup 2.3 until March 15 because demand for the vaccine among those 65 and older remains high in this region.

“This gives our older population time to sign up for a vaccination appointment before tens of thousands of more residents are added to the pool,” said Josh Jensen, SCPHD Program Manager. “It also gives employers in our region a chance to learn the process and help their employees sign up for a vaccine appointment when they become eligible.”

About 47 percent of those 65 and older who are currently eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine within SCPHD’s eight-country jurisdiction have received at least one dose since Feb. 1. SCPHD is still working through a waitlist that includes several thousand residents.

“The people signed up on our waitlist will not fall to the bottom of the pile when this new priority group opens,” said Jensen. “We will work through the list in the order people signed up, just as we have always done.”

For a list of enrolled vaccine providers in Blaine, Camas, Lincoln and other area counties, visit

 Employers may arrange for an onsite mobile vaccine clinic for their employees through the SCPHD.

BLAINE COUNTY RESIDENTS LIKE THOSE VACCINES

To date 32.22 percent of Blaine County residents have received a dose. That’s the highest in the state. Only 9.97 percent of Owyhee County residents in Idaho’s southwest corner have been vaccinated.

So far, females make up 60 percent of the vaccinated.

Statewide 271,684 people have received vaccine; 149,653 are fully vaccinated.

INTEREST IN VACCINATIONS CLIMBS

A new Pew survey of 10,000 people conducted Feb. 16-21 shows that 69 percent of adults have now been vaccinated or plan to get vaccinated, up from 60 percent in November.

 Sixty-one percent of African-Americans surveyed said they planned to get vaccinated, up from 42 percent in November.

Eighty-two million COVID shots have now been administered in the United States with 55 percent of those 65 and older getting at least one shot.

The United States is now vaccinating 2 million people a day, above the number President Biden committed to.

KEEP PRACTICING SOCIAL DISTANCING

Blaine County Commissioners reminded residents Friday to limit groups to 50 people outdoors and 10 indoors to enable school children to attend school in-person four days a week. Secondary students just began returning to class four days a week, following elementary students who did so a few weeks earlier.

Religious institutions are exempt from the gathering restrictions, as are schools and vaccination clinics.

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