Half of all eligible Idahoans vaccinated against COVID-19

By Lyndsie Kiebert
Reader Staff

As the Delta variant of the novel coronavirus continues to ramp up case numbers across the country, the message from epidemiologists and other health care leaders remains the same: The best way to avoid serious illness and death is to seek out a COVID-19 vaccine.

Image courtesy CDC.

While no vaccine is 100% effective and breakthrough infections are possible, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that vaccinated people are “far less likely to get severely sick or die than people who are unvaccinated.” Idaho Department of Health and Welfare officials reported in July that nearly 99% of Idahoans hospitalized with the virus were not fully vaccinated.

As of Aug. 11, 51.2% percent of Idahoans 12 years of age and older were at least partially vaccinated against COVID-19, as well as 78.6% of those 65 and older. Nationally, those numbers are 68.9% and 90.5%, respectively.

In Bonner County, the CDC reports that 36.3% of all eligible residents (meaning those 12 years old and up) have received at least one shot, while 67.5% of people 65 and older have also been partially inoculated. Vaccinations are available at most pharmacies. Visit covidvaccine.idaho.gov to learn more.

Bonner County remains in the “high” category of community transmission, as do all of its surrounding counties. Across neighboring states Washington and Montana, most counties are also seeing “high” rates of transmission.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little will hold a press conference regarding COVID-19 in Idaho on Thursday, Aug. 12 at noon PST. A spokesperson with the governor’s office informed the Reader that they are “not providing streaming” of the conference, “but the local TV news stations are planning to stream online.”