The Student Recreation Center will serve as the main vaccination site for Gritman Medical Center beginning Thursday, according to an email from University of Idaho President Scott Green.
Testing for COVID-19 will continue at the SRC every Tuesday, the email stated. All vaccine appointments should be made through Gritman’s online portal.
“We continue to join with our higher education partners around the state to advocate for moving front-line faculty and staff into a priority list for the COVID-19 vaccine,” Green stated. “We hope to hear soon if the state will move this group from the general population to an earlier group.”
In Idaho, the COVID-19 vaccine is currently available to individuals 65 and over. Faculty and staff at UI have expressed confusion at not being included in the same priority group as K-12 teachers and staff, Group 2.1, which began vaccinations Jan. 12. Higher education employees in the state have not yet been designated a priority group.
As of Friday, Gritman administered 69% of its 3,281 distributed doses, according to Idaho’s new COVID-19 vaccine transparency website.
Public Health – Idaho North Central District, where Latah County falls, still lags behind every other district in the state in terms of doses distributed and percentage of doses administered. The district has administered 61% of its 20,250 distributed doses, up from 56% last week, but still far lower than the other health districts.
In comparison, Eastern Idaho Public Health District has administered 92% of its 34,900 distributed vaccine doses.
According to Scott Schlegel, spokesperson for North Central, there are a few reasons for the disparity. One of the district’s largest obstacles comes from being the only ultra-cold storage in all five of its counties.
“We act as a storage for all of our facilities and community partners who are going to utilize the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine,” Schlegel said. “The numbers show low because we hold all of that vaccine for our different clinics.”
Because Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine can be stored in a refrigerator or freezer that’s not ultra-cold, more facilities are able to hold those doses themselves.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Moderna’s vials can be stored in a refrigerator between 36°F and 46°F for up to 30 days. It can also be stored in colder temperatures, but at a much tighter range, between -13°F and 5°F. Once the vaccine is thawed, it can’t be refrozen, the CDC says.
On the other hand, Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine can only be stored in ultra-cold temperatures, between -112°F and -76°F, according to the CDC.
Different clinics are allocated different amounts of vaccine, and the doses stay at public health until they’re ready to be administered in a clinic, Schlegel said. When the clinics know how many people will be getting vaccinated, they go to public health and pick up the doses.
“Once it goes out of ultra-cold storage, it’s viable for up to five days,” Schlegel said. “The timer starts ticking and clinics need to make sure their staff is set up and they have people registered to get those shots into arms as fast as they can.”
Pfizer-BioNTech’s mRNA vaccine consists of two doses that must be administered three weeks apart, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Due to this grace period, a large portion of the unused doses at North Central are being held for individuals waiting on their second dose.
“We are doing everything we can to get this vaccine out as soon as possible to as many people as possible,” Schlegel said. “We’re working down that prioritization list.”
Gritman Director of Community Relations and Marketing Peter Mundt and UI Director of Communications Jodi Walker did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Argonaut will continue to follow this story.
Angela Palermo can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @apalermotweets