All Idahoans eligible for vaccine April 26

Gov. Brad Little said the goal of opening up COVID-19 vaccinations by the beginning of May for everyone over the age of 16 is an achievable ambition Idaho will beat.

Little and his administration laid out the plan Tuesday. He said the week-by-week increments the Vaccine Advisory Committee and his Department of Health and Welfare will take to expand eligibility will open the vaccine to all who want it no later than April 26.

“I’ve been very impressed with the work that committee has done with what we need to do to get the vaccine out, to get the most people vaccinated the fastest and most efficient,” Little said. “I’m delighted that well over a majority of our seniors have now received the vaccine.”

About 200,000 Idahoans age 60 and over have been vaccinated.

As of right now, Idahoans age 55 to 64 with at least one underlying health condition are eligible for their allotted COVID-19 dose. All residents 65 and older are also eligible.

Starting Monday — March 22 — all residents 55 and older will be eligible, regardless of any underlying affliction.

On March 29, that eligibility winds back a decade, as residents 45 and older who have an underlying health condition will then be eligible. One week later, on April 5, that health condition restriction gets dropped again, making all residents 45 and older eligible.

All of those eligibility increments were announced Monday, but Little’s sign-off on Tuesday sets the timeline for when everyone can get a vaccine if they so choose. Come April 12, Idahoans age 16 to 44 with at least one underlying health condition will be eligible for a dose.

That priority will hold for two weeks, until April 26, when the state’s Department of Health and Welfare will drop the underlying health condition requirement, making the vaccine available to any Idahoan 16 and older.

The timeline outpaces direction from President Joe Biden, who said Friday he was directing all states to open eligibility to all Americans 16 and older no later than May 1.

But the pace of COVID-19 vaccinations might slow once that eligible age group expands to 16-year-olds. Only the Pfizer vaccine has been authorized by the Food and Drug Administration for use on people 16 or older. The Moderna and newly authorized Johnson & Johnson vaccines have been authorized in the United States for people 18 and older. Both Pfizer and Moderna have already begun clinical trials for children age 12 to 15. On Monday, Moderna began its clinical trials for children from six months of age to 11.

Nationwide, of the nearly 550,000 COVID-19-related deaths reported by the Centers for Disease Control, 265 have been children.

Dave Jeppesen, director of the Department of Health and Welfare, said the COVID-19 numbers continue to trend in the right direction. Testing positivity has been under the state goal of 5% for the past three weeks, and hospitalizations continue to decline statewide. But Jeppesen said the most promising statistic could be found in the state’s long-term care facilities.

“I’m really excited to see the number of long-term care facilities that have active COVID cases going on continues to drop,” Jeppesen added. “Our high-water mark was over 200 out of our 400 facilities. As of yesterday, we were at 87 that had an active case going on. That’s improved a tremendous amount over the last few weeks, a direct result of the vaccinations that are taking place.”

Little stressed that, while getting vaccinated will bring life closer to the pre-pandemic days, residents should still follow health protocols, including the practice of social distancing and the wearing of masks, as Idaho’s numbers have not yet gotten Idaho out of the woods.

“We have three variants in Idaho right now, and we’re concerned about a couple other ones," he said.

Conversely, the governor said he wouldn’t commit to whether he would veto House Bill 339, which would prohibit the government from ever issuing a mask mandate.

The bill cleared the House State Affairs Committee Monday and is slated to go to the House floor for consideration. If passed, HB 339 would then go to the Senate; if the Senate approves it, the legislation would then go to Little’s desk for either signature or veto.

“Anybody can introduce a bill," Little said. "I usually don’t pay a lot of attention to them until they get closer."