Idaho No Longer Ranked Last In This Metric
The state of Idaho is no longer last in the country when it comes to vaccination rates. After being neck and neck with Wyoming for a significant amount of time, more Idahoans are choosing to get vaccinated as COVID cases are again on the rise.
Idaho now ranks 41st in percentage of vaccinated population, according to the New York Times. While this position is nothing to brag about, it does show a slow growth vaccinations. More than 50,000 additional Idahoans have been fully vaccinated since the start of January. Of those age 5 and older, roughly 55% of Idaho's population is fully vaccinated, while the national average is about 71%.
Bradley Bigford, a nurse practitioner at Table Rock Mobile Medicine has been an advocate for getting residents vaccinated. He says he wants to see more people come out and get protected against the virus, but hasn't been seeing that. He understands that most people are stuck in their ways. At this point, if you haven't already gotten your vaccination, you're unlikely to--and that's your choice. Instead, most of these new fully vaccinated cases are at-risk individuals getting their booster shots.
So, this rise may not be so much Idaho doing better, as much as other states doing worse. The states below us in Idaho are doing much much worse than we are when it comes to getting vaccination, at almost half the rate.
Cases have been spiking again the past week in Idaho. According to a report from the Idaho Capital Sun, Ada and Canyon counties are the areas where the coronavirus has been spreading most aggressively. Last week, hospitals in Idaho reported more than 100 people hospitalized with COVID-19. Some days, more than 20 people were newly admitted to the hospital, the Capital Sun reports.
It may be a minor accomplishment, but I was always taught to celebrate your accomplishments, even the small ones. We aren't last any more! One of the last sounds so much better than the last.