SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — Washington and Idaho are about two months past the start of their COVID-19 vaccine rollouts, and both states are still pushing to vaccinate people against the coronavirus as fast as possible.
This has led to questions about how quickly the states, and local health districts and providers, have been able to get people vaccinated. People have also asked how the two states compare when it comes to the number of people vaccinated.
How does the data stack up? It depends on if the comparison uses raw data, or takes the population of the two states or areas into account.
Washington vs. Idaho
When it comes to vaccine doses administered between the two states as a whole, Washington leads by a wide gap.
Back on Dec. 27, Washington had administered about 50,000 more doses of COVID-19 vaccines than Idaho, according to data from the Washington Department of Health and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
The gap in total doses administered has only widened since December. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from Wednesday, Washington had administered 1,500,225 doses, while Idaho had only administered 334,550. This comes out to a difference of 1,165,675 doses.
However, this doesn't take into account the difference in population between the two states. According to the CDC, Washington has administered 19,701 doses per 100,000 people. The same data says that Idaho is just behind, with 18,721 doses administered per 100,000 people.
Spokane County vs. Panhandle Health District
When it comes to Spokane County's vaccine push versus what's happening in the Panhandle Health District, the data is similar to what's happening at the state level.
Spokane County has administered more total doses of the vaccine than the Panhandle Health District, which is comprised of Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Kootenai and Shoshone counties.
According to Washington DOH data, which was last updated on Feb. 10, Spokane County has administered 74,841 doses. Providers in the Panhandle Health District have administered a total of 25,841 doses as of Wednesday, according to the Idaho DHW.
However, this also doesn't take into account the difference in population. According to a U.S. Census Bureau estimate from 2019, the latest year available, Spokane County is home to 522,789 people. The five counties that comprise the Panhandle Health District only added up to 245,861 people in the same estimate.
When this is taken into account, the gap almost disappears. When vaccine doses are calculated per 10,000 people, Spokane County's rate sits at 1,429 doses per 10,000 people, although the latest available data from the Washington DOH is from Feb. 10. Over in the Panhandle Health District, the rate is slightly lower, at 1,051 doses per 10,000 people, according to the Idaho DHW.
One thing to note is not all states are given the same amount of vaccine doses, which will also factor into vaccination rates.