The Southwest District Board of Health recently became the first in the nation to stop providing government-subsidized COVID-19 vaccinations. This move recognizes the extent of public distrust of the vaccine and saves hundreds of thousands in taxpayer funds as a bonus. Now, it is time for Idaho’s remaining health districts — and others across the nation — to consider following suit.
A few months before the board’s decision, members expressed their concern over administering subsidized COVID-19 shots through the district’s vaccination program. This resulted in the district halting purchases of new COVID vaccinations.
The meeting on October 22, however, went one step further by discontinuing the Southwest District’s COVID vaccination program entirely. This was the first such decision in the nation in response to mounting evidence that the public would not support such a program.
The federal government largely subsidizes the COVID vaccination program to allow health districts to offer the vaccine at cost. Available support exceeded $1.3 million in federal grant funding and more than six staffers in the prior fiscal year for Southwest District Health alone.
Correspondence with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare revealed the Southwest District Board of Health’s decision to end the COVID vaccination program would save $620,000 this year.
The board’s decision is illustrative of the importance of representative governance. Idahoans submitted hundreds of comments to the board expressing their disapproval of the COVID vaccination program. Idahoans’ mounting distrust of the vaccine — backed by new evidence of its effects and negative personal experiences — warrant the board’s skepticism and ultimate withdrawal from the program.
The district’s medical director, Dr. Perry Jansen, presented to the board to continue the program. He argued its continuation bolsters consumer choice by allowing patients and physicians to weigh the risks and benefits themselves.
But consumers have already made this choice, with many choosing not to get the shot. In fact, recent data shows only 128 doses were administered to the district’s population of just over 300,000 people.
With such low uptake, government funding for the program is merely augmenting demand. Since shots do not end up in patients’ arms, the only ones who seem to benefit from the regular stocking of the vaccine are the manufacturers.
It is unlikely that discontinuing this program would even be noticed by the vast majority of southwest Idaho residents — let alone restricting their health care decisions.
This low vaccine uptake is impressive, considering how the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spent nearly $1 billion to promote now-disproven claims of the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness.
What’s more intriguing is that this campaign was counterproductive to promoting compliance with federal recommendations on COVID but also detrimental to recommendations for public health policies as a whole. Through promoting the COVID vaccine, the HHS ruined its credibility with a now appropriately skeptical public.
Southwest District Health was the first in the nation to discontinue its COVID vaccine program; other districts in Idaho and across America should follow their lead.
Currently, millions of dollars support COVID vaccination administration in Idaho’s seven public health districts. For example, Central District Health — the district servicing Ada, Boise, Elmore, and Valley counties — had nearly $1 million in this funding last fiscal year and just over half a million in funding this year.
In fact, many of these funds are tied to legislation passed during the federal public health emergency and are set to expire soon. This provides a natural end for these programs now that the public health emergency is well behind us. Health districts should take advantage. Otherwise, residents are at risk of continuing this “temporary” program in perpetuity.
It is time for public health districts to leverage true consumer choice on the COVID vaccine. Those who see it as safe, effective, and valuable can purchase it like any other medication. But taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to make that purchase by stocking vaccines no one wants, lining the pockets of pharmaceutical companies.
The decision is for patients, not policymakers, and those on the Southwest District Board of Health get it.
