Idaho COVID-19 Advisory Committee Recommends Including 65 and Older Adults in Phase 2

The Idaho COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Committee has recommended to include people 65 and older and frontline essential workers in Phase 2 of the state's vaccine distribution, reports KTVB NewsChannel 7 . This would cover more than 500,000 Idahoans. Primary Health Medical Group CEO David Peterman said only about 63 percent of the healthcare workers they are involved with are currently getting the vaccine. "I think that we need to realize that the numbers there all need to be decreased by 30 percent of those that actually want the vaccine," he added. The committee overwhelmingly voted in favor of recommendation C, which includes the older Idaho residents, which will now go to Gov. Brad Little for final approval. The committee also passed some revisions to include additional essential workers in four different subgroups in Phase 2. No timeframe currently exists for when Idaho will enter Phase 2, while the committee is attempting to inoculate at least 70 percent of any category before moving on the next one. Should Little approves the changes to Phase 2, committee members say it would take 17 weeks to immunize most of the phase.