South Dakota Expands COVID-19 Vaccination Eligibility
Another group of South Dakotans is now eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccination.
Wednesday (March 10), the State Department of Health announced that it was expanding into the second half of Phase 1D on the vaccination priority list.
That means that teachers, childcare workers, college staff, college students living in dormitories, and funeral workers are now eligible for their shots.
So far 267,743 doses of vaccination have been administered in South Dakota to 173,596 people with 30 percent of the state's population receiving at least one dose.
Next up will be Phase 1E, which will include:
- Fire Service Personnel
- Other Critical Infrastructure Workers, including water and wastewater, energy, finance, food service, food and agriculture, legal, manufacturing, shelter and housing, transportation and logistics, information technology, and communications
After Phase 1E is complete, vaccinations will be made available to all South Dakota residents age 16 and older.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the state has seen 100,994 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 6,736 hospitalizations and 1,904 deaths associated with the virus.
Currently, there are 2,114 active cases in South Dakota with 73 patients in the hospital.