An Idaho health department is no longer authorized to administer COVID-19 vaccines. Experts say it's a first

A regional Idaho public health department is no longer providing COVID-19 vaccines to residents in six counties after a narrow decision by its board of directors.

The Southwest Health District appears to be the first in the country not to be authorized to administer COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccinations are an essential function of a public health service.

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While Texas policymakers have barred health departments from promoting COVID vaccines and Florida's surgeon general has resisted medical consensus to recommend against the vaccine, government agencies across the country have not completely blocked vaccines.

“I'm not aware of anything else like this,” said Adriane Casalotti, government and public affairs chief for the National Association of County and City Health Officials. She said health services 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 in the Boise metropolitan area. Demand for COVID vaccines in the health district has decreased – with 1,601 administered in 2021 to 64 so far in 2024. The same is true for other vaccines: Idaho has the lowest childhood vaccination exemption rate highest in the country, and last year the South West district The Health Ministry scrambled to contain a rare measles outbreak that sickened 10 people.

On Oct. 22, the Health Department's board voted 4-3 in favor of the ban — despite testimony from Southwest's medical director about the need for the vaccine.

A syringe sits next to vials of COVID-19 booster vaccines at a vaccination station in Jackson, Mississippi, Friday, Nov. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

“Our request from the board is that we be able to transport and offer these (vaccines), recognizing that we are still having these discussions about risks and benefits,” Dr. Perry Jansen said during the meeting. “It's not a blind approach, where everyone has a chance. It's a thoughtful approach.”

Opposite Jansen's plea were more than 290 public comments, many of which called for an end to vaccination mandates or taxpayer funding of vaccines, neither of which is in the District. At the meeting, many of the people who spoke are nationally known for having traveled the world to testify against COVID vaccines, including Dr. Peter McCullough, a Texas cardiologist who sells “kits emergency against contagion” including ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine – drugs which have not been approved. treat COVID-19 and can have dangerous side effects.

Board President Kelly Aberasturi knew of many voices in favor of the ban, particularly during previous local protests against pandemic measures.

Aberasturi, who told The Associated Press he is skeptical of COVID-19 vaccines and national public health leaders, said at the meeting and in an interview with the AP that he supports but was “disappointed” by the board’s decision.

He said the board overstepped the relationship between patients and their doctors — and may have opened the door to blocking other vaccines or treatments.

Board members in favor of the decision argued that people can get vaccinated elsewhere and that providing the vaccines was tantamount to certifying their safety. (Some people may be reluctant to get vaccinated or vaccinated due to misinformation about vaccines, despite evidence that they are safe and have saved millions of lives.)

People vaccinated at the Department of Health – including unhoused people, people confined to their homes and those in long-term care facilities or in the immigration process – did not have a other options, Jansen and Aberasturi said.

“I've been homeless throughout my life, so I understand how difficult it can be when you're trying to get by and move forward,” Aberasturi said. “This is where we should step in and help.

“But we have some board members who have never been there, so they don’t understand what it’s like.”

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State health officials said they “recommend that people consider the COVID-19 vaccine.” Idaho Health Department spokesperson AJ McWhorter declined to comment on “public health district matters” but noted that COVID-19 vaccines are still available at community health centers for uninsured people.

Aberasturi said he plans to ask at the next board meeting whether the Health Department could at least be allowed to vaccinate elderly patients and residents of long-term care facilities, adding that the board of administration is supposed to look after “health and well-being”. ” neighborhood residents. “But I think the way we approached this is we didn't do our due diligence.”