The Idaho Department of Health can no longer administer Covid-19 vaccines. Experts say this is the first case

The Idaho Regional Public Health Department no longer provides these services Covid-19 vaccines residents of six districts after a minor decision by the board.

Southwest District Health appears to be the first facility in the country to be banned from administering Covid-19 vaccines. Immunization is an essential function of the public health department.

While Texas policymakers banned health care providers promoting Covid vaccines and Florida surgeon general opposed the medical consensus that recommended government bodies across the country reject the vaccine they didn’t block vaccines directly.

“I don’t know of anything like that,” said Adriane Casalotti, head of government and public affairs at the National Association of County and City Health Officials. She said health departments stopped offering the vaccine due to cost or low demand, but not based on “an evaluation 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 dropped – from 1,601 people administered in 2021 to 64 in 2024. The same is true for other vaccines: in Idaho the highest rate of exemptions from child vaccinations in the countryand last year The Southwest District Health Department rushed stop a rare measles outbreak that has caused 10 people to die.

On Oct. 22, the health department’s board voted 4-3 for the ban — even though Southwest’s chief medical officer testified that the vaccine was necessary.

“Our request from the board is that we can carry and offer these (vaccines), keeping in mind that we always have discussions about the risks and benefits,” Dr. Perry Jansen he said at the meeting. “It’s not a blind approach where anyone can try it. It’s a thoughtful approach.”

There were more than 290 public comments opposing Jansen’s allegation, many of which called for an end to vaccine mandates or taxpayer funding for vaccines, neither of which are taking place in the district. At the meeting, many of the people who spoke are known across the country for their celebrations in which testimonies are given against Covid-19 vaccines Dr. Peter McCullougha Texas cardiologist who sells “contagion emergency kits” that include ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine.

Board president Kelly Aberasturi was familiar with many of the voices in favor of the ban, especially from previous local protests against the preventive measures.

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

He said the board overstepped the boundaries of the relationship between patients and their doctors and likely opened the door to blocking other vaccines or treatments.

Board members in favor of the decision argued that district residents could get the vaccine elsewhere and that providing it was tantamount to signing an agreement for their safety. (Some people may be reluctant to get vaccinated or boosted because of misinformation about vaccines despite evidence that they are safe and have saved millions of lives.)

People vaccinated at the health department — including those without housing, homebound, in long-term care facilities or in the immigration process — had no other choice, Jansen and Aberasturi said.

“I’ve been homeless my whole life, so I understand how difficult it can be when you’re… trying to cope and get ahead,” 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.”

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

Aberasturi said he plans to ask at the next board meeting whether the health department can at least get permission to vaccinate elderly patients and residents of long-term care facilities, adding that the board is expected to look after the “health and well-being” of the district’s residents. “But I think the way we approached this case was that we didn’t do our due diligence.”

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