Little boosts National Guard numbers to aid vaccine push

Idaho Gov. Brad Little announced Tuesday that 150 additional National Guard personnel will be available later this week to assist in the state’s vaccine distribution.

The 400 guardsmen deployed will continue to help meet “critical needs at health care facilities across Idaho,” Little said.

In an Idaho Department of Health and Welfare media briefing Tuesday, Public Health Administrator Elke Shaw-Tulloch said demand for vaccines currently outpaces what is available.

“The biggest issue that we hear from providers is that we need more supply, because the demand is great,” Shaw-Tulloch said. “We love the fact that we have such a high demand for the vaccine, and I’m very happy that we have people clamoring for it.”

Late last week, the department said it received notification from the federal government that Idaho would see a 2 percent to 5 percent increase, or about 950 additional doses, delivered each week. That would raise the anticipated total to 20,950 doses received each week for the foreseeable future.

Despite the increase, a news release from Little’s office said Idaho receives a “disproportionately lower” share than other states because the federal government has not allocated the vaccines on a per capita basis.

By the end of this week, the state will have received 71,175 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 92,800 doses of the Moderna vaccine, for a total of 163,975 doses.

As of Tuesday, Idaho administered 69,398 doses of the vaccine. That accounts for an increase of 48 percent of doses administered last week over the previous week.

“We actually feel good about where we are, and we see that capacity continuing to increase,” said Dave Jeppesen, director of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, on the number of vaccines administered. “There’s going to be a lag between doses received and doses administered, but we see ourselves making that lag in the number of doses in that category much, much smaller over the next couple of weeks.”

Locally, CHAS Health in Lewiston and Moscow is one of the providers offering vaccines. The clinic has 600 doses available for those who land in the second group of the state’s vaccine distribution schedule. The shots are available for first responders and staff in pre-K-12 schools, child care and correctional and detention facilities.

Kelley Charvet, chief administrative officer for CHAS Health, said the Lewis and Clark Health Center in Lewiston and Latah Community Health in Moscow are currently able to offer about 30 vaccines a day.

Idahoans 65 and older are expected to receive vaccinations in early February.

Jeppesen said an increase in the state’s capacity to administer vaccinations is particularly important as that date approaches. There are approximately 250,000 people in Idaho that will fall into that group.