Health department in Idaho reportedly becomes first in the nation to ban COVID vaccine

(Daily Caller News Foundation) – A regional health department in Idaho overseeing six counties appears to be the first across the U.S. to cease to provide COVID-19 vaccines, according to Boise State Public Radio (BSPR).

The board of Southwest District Health (SDH) voted 4-3 on Oct. 22, 2024 to remove the vaccines from its offices after receiving around 300 public comments against the vaccines and anti-vaccine presentations from several doctors, Boise State Public Radio reported.

The decision appears to be a nationwide first. “I’m not aware of anything else like this,” Adriane Casalotti, chief of government and public affairs for the National Association of County and City Health Officials, told The Associated Press (AP).

Dr. Perry Jansen, a district staff physician and medical director, did not support the decision. “We really serve as a safety net provider for people who can’t get health care in any other way, largely because of finances,” Jansen told the board in his pre-voting presentation, according to BSPR. “We’re able to offer free and discounted services for people who don’t have access through private care.”

“Our request of the board is that we would be able to carry and offer those [vaccines], recognizing that we always have these discussions of risks and benefits,” Jansen added, according to AP. “This is not a blind, everybody-gets-a-shot approach. This is a thoughtful approach.”

Four critics of the COVID-19 vaccine — Dr. Peter McCullough, a Texas-based cardiologist, pediatrician and former Washington State University medical associate professor Dr. Renata Moon, Florida-based gynecologist Dr. James A. Thorp and Idaho pathologist Dr. Ryan Cole — made presentations at the board meeting, according to BSPR. All four reportedly have had run-ins with health authorities over their criticisms of COVID-19 vaccines.

Dr. John Tribble, the only physician on the SDH board, reportedly invited the presenters. “[Patients] show up at the door, trusting us, and we continue to break that trust by saying, tacitly or otherwise, that these things, there’s no risk from these,” he added, according to BSPR. 

Board chair Kelly Aberasturi questioned the board’s authority to remove access to the vaccines for everyone in its jurisdiction as many of those who need the vaccines reportedly obtain referrals from doctors.

“So now, you’re telling me that I have the right to override that doctor? Because I know more than he does?” Aberasturi said, according to BSPR. “It has to do with the right of the individual to make that decision on their own. Not for me to dictate to them what they will do. Sorry, but this pisses me off.”

Health departments have stopped offering the vaccine because of cost or low demand rather than “a judgment of the medical product itself,” Casalotti told AP.

SDH is one of Idaho’s seven public health districts and serves Adams, Canyon, Gem, Owyhee, Payette and Washington counties, according to its website. Demand for COVID-19 vaccines across the six counties plunged from 1,601 in 2021 to 64 in 2024 at the time of writing, AP reported. While the vaccines are no longer free, they are inexpensive but not subsidized by the SDH, BSPR reported.

Other vaccines and treatments may also be blocked following the SDH’s decision, Aberasturi told AP. Idaho reportedly has the highest childhood vaccination exemption rate in the U.S.

A rare September 2023 measles outbreak sparked an SDH scramble to contain it. Cases of the childhood disease of whooping cough spiked from 10 in 2023 to 171 in 2024 at the time of writing across the SDH and another health department, the SDH said in early September.