The number of people getting vaccinated against COVID-19 in Idaho has decreased in the last month, even as surging patient volumes have forced many hospitals in the state to operate under crisis standards of care, The Idaho Statesman reported Oct. 21.
The state administered first doses to 13,115 people in the week of Sept. 12-18, according to state data cited by The Idaho Statesman, the same week the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare activated crisis standards of care. That weekly total has decreased every week since. In the week ending Oct. 16, just 6,141 people were vaccinated.
"We don't know exactly why, when crisis standards of care went into effect, (first-dose) vaccine administration by day started to decrease," Sarah Leeds, manager of the immunization program at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, said during an Oct. 5 press conference.
As of Oct. 20, just 43 percent of Idahoans were fully vaccinated, according to CDC data, making Idaho the second least-vaccinated state behind West Virginia.
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