A regional public health department in Idaho isn’t any longer providing COVID-19 vaccines to residents in six counties after a narrow decision by its board.
Southwest District Health appears to be the primary within the nation to be restricted from giving COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccinations are an important function of a public health department.
While policymakers in Texas banned health departments from promoting COVID vaccines and Florida’s surgeon general bucked medical consensus to recommend against the vaccine, governmental bodies across the country haven’t blocked the vaccines outright.
“I’m not aware of the rest like this,” said Adriane Casalotti, chief of presidency and public affairs for the National Association of County and City Health Officials.
She said health departments have stopped offering the vaccine due to cost or low demand, but not based on “a judgment of the medical product itself.”
The six-county district along the Idaho-Oregon border includes three counties within the Boise metropolitan area.
Demand for COVID vaccines within the health district has declined — with 1,601 given in 2021 to 64 to date in 2024. The identical is true for other vaccines: Idaho has the best childhood vaccination exemption rate within the nation, and last yr, the Southwest District Health Department rushed to contain a rare measles outbreak that sickened 10.
On Oct. 22, the health department’s board voted 4-3 in favor of the ban — despite Southwest’s medical director testifying to the vaccine’s necessity.
“Our request of the board is that we might find a way to hold and offer those (vaccines), recognizing that we at all times have these discussions of risks and advantages,” Dr. Perry Jansen said on the meeting. “This will not be a blind, everybody-gets-a-shot approach. This can be a thoughtful approach.”
Opposite Jansen’s plea were greater than 290 public comments, lots of which called for an end to vaccine mandates or taxpayer funding of the vaccines, neither of that are happening within the district.
On the meeting, many individuals who spoke are nationally known for making the rounds to testify against COVID vaccines, including Dr. Peter McCullough, a Texas cardiologist who sells “contagion emergency kits” that include ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine — drugs which have not been approved to treat COVID-19 and might have dangerous negative effects.
Board Chairman Kelly Aberasturi was accustomed to most of the voices who wanted the ban, especially from earlier local protests of pandemic measures.
Aberasturi, who told The Associated Press that he’s skeptical of COVID-19 vaccines and national public health leaders, said within the meeting and in an interview with the AP that he was supportive of but “disenchanted” within the board’s decision.
He said the board had overstepped the connection between patients and their doctors — and possibly opened a door to blocking other vaccines or treatments.
Board members in favor of the choice argued people can get vaccinated elsewhere, and that providing the shots was such as signing off on their safety. (Some people could also be reluctant to get vaccinated or boosted due to misinformation in regards to the shots despite evidence that they’re protected and have saved thousands and thousands of lives.)
The people getting vaccinated on the health department — including people without housing, people who find themselves homebound and people in long-term care facilities or within the immigration process — had no other options, Jansen and Aberasturi said.
“I’ve been homeless in my lifetime, so I understand how difficult it may well be if you’re … attempting to get by and get ahead,” Aberasturi said. “That is where we should always be stepping in and helping.
“But we’ve some board members who’ve never been there, in order that they don’t understand what it’s like.”
State health officials have said that they “recommend that folks consider the COVID-19 vaccine.” Idaho health department spokesperson AJ McWhorter declined to comment on “public health district business,” but noted that COVID-19 vaccines are still available at community health centers for people who find themselves uninsured.
Aberasturi said he plans to ask at the subsequent board meeting if the health department can at the least be allowed to vaccinate older patients and residents of long-term care facilities, adding that the board is speculated to be caring for the “health and well-being” of the district’s residents. “But I think the way in which we went about this thing is we didn’t try this due diligence.”
A regional public health department in Idaho isn’t any longer providing COVID-19 vaccines to residents in six counties after a narrow decision by its board.
Southwest District Health appears to be the primary within the nation to be restricted from giving COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccinations are an important function of a public health department.
While policymakers in Texas banned health departments from promoting COVID vaccines and Florida’s surgeon general bucked medical consensus to recommend against the vaccine, governmental bodies across the country haven’t blocked the vaccines outright.
“I’m not aware of the rest like this,” said Adriane Casalotti, chief of presidency and public affairs for the National Association of County and City Health Officials.
She said health departments have stopped offering the vaccine due to cost or low demand, but not based on “a judgment of the medical product itself.”
The six-county district along the Idaho-Oregon border includes three counties within the Boise metropolitan area.
Demand for COVID vaccines within the health district has declined — with 1,601 given in 2021 to 64 to date in 2024. The identical is true for other vaccines: Idaho has the best childhood vaccination exemption rate within the nation, and last yr, the Southwest District Health Department rushed to contain a rare measles outbreak that sickened 10.
On Oct. 22, the health department’s board voted 4-3 in favor of the ban — despite Southwest’s medical director testifying to the vaccine’s necessity.
“Our request of the board is that we might find a way to hold and offer those (vaccines), recognizing that we at all times have these discussions of risks and advantages,” Dr. Perry Jansen said on the meeting. “This will not be a blind, everybody-gets-a-shot approach. This can be a thoughtful approach.”
Opposite Jansen’s plea were greater than 290 public comments, lots of which called for an end to vaccine mandates or taxpayer funding of the vaccines, neither of that are happening within the district.
On the meeting, many individuals who spoke are nationally known for making the rounds to testify against COVID vaccines, including Dr. Peter McCullough, a Texas cardiologist who sells “contagion emergency kits” that include ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine — drugs which have not been approved to treat COVID-19 and might have dangerous negative effects.
Board Chairman Kelly Aberasturi was accustomed to most of the voices who wanted the ban, especially from earlier local protests of pandemic measures.
Aberasturi, who told The Associated Press that he’s skeptical of COVID-19 vaccines and national public health leaders, said within the meeting and in an interview with the AP that he was supportive of but “disenchanted” within the board’s decision.
He said the board had overstepped the connection between patients and their doctors — and possibly opened a door to blocking other vaccines or treatments.
Board members in favor of the choice argued people can get vaccinated elsewhere, and that providing the shots was such as signing off on their safety. (Some people could also be reluctant to get vaccinated or boosted due to misinformation in regards to the shots despite evidence that they’re protected and have saved thousands and thousands of lives.)
The people getting vaccinated on the health department — including people without housing, people who find themselves homebound and people in long-term care facilities or within the immigration process — had no other options, Jansen and Aberasturi said.
“I’ve been homeless in my lifetime, so I understand how difficult it may well be if you’re … attempting to get by and get ahead,” Aberasturi said. “That is where we should always be stepping in and helping.
“But we’ve some board members who’ve never been there, in order that they don’t understand what it’s like.”
State health officials have said that they “recommend that folks consider the COVID-19 vaccine.” Idaho health department spokesperson AJ McWhorter declined to comment on “public health district business,” but noted that COVID-19 vaccines are still available at community health centers for people who find themselves uninsured.
Aberasturi said he plans to ask at the subsequent board meeting if the health department can at the least be allowed to vaccinate older patients and residents of long-term care facilities, adding that the board is speculated to be caring for the “health and well-being” of the district’s residents. “But I think the way in which we went about this thing is we didn’t try this due diligence.”
