Coronavirus (COVID-19)

The Indian Health Service continues to work closely with our tribal and urban Indian organization partners and state and local public health officials to coordinate a comprehensive public health response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected American Indian and Alaska Native populations across the country. American Indians and Alaska Natives have infection rates over 3.5 times higher Exit Disclaimer: You Are Leaving www.ihs.gov  than non-Hispanic whites, are over four times Exit Disclaimer: You Are Leaving www.ihs.gov  more likely to be hospitalized as a result of COVID-19, and have higher rates Exit Disclaimer: You Are Leaving www.ihs.gov  of mortality at younger ages than non-Hispanic whites. This has highlighted the need for comprehensive, culturally appropriate personal and public health services that are available and accessible to all American Indian and Alaska Native people.

A Historic Investment

The IHS has received a historic investment of more than $9 billion [PDF] to provide resources for IHS, tribal, and urban Indian health programs to address long-standing health inequities experienced by American Indians and Alaska Natives by ensuring a comprehensive public health response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We have worked closely with tribes and urban Indian organizations throughout this pandemic to get resources out to facilities as quickly as possible.

Increasing Availability and Access to Vaccination Sites

IHS continues to address barriers to COVID-19 vaccination in American Indian and Alaska Native communities by increasing availability to convenient and accessible vaccination sites; increasing clinical and community-based workforce for outreach, education, and vaccination; and accelerating COVID-19 vaccine distribution and administration. Across the Indian health system, we have administered well over one million vaccine doses, increased drive-through testing sites, and provided next-generation at home tests and rapid tests.

Achievements and Improvements

It has been more than a year now that IHS and our dedicated workforce have been responding to COVID-19. Over the past year, IHS has worked to ensure the safety of our IHS patients and staff, as well as tribal community members. We have made some considerable achievements such as developing a COVID-19 data surveillance system and partnering with the Navajo Nation and other local organizations on a project to support the installation of 59 transitional water points on the Navajo Nation. These efforts have increased water access for over 9,600 homes without piped water.

The pandemic has highlighted challenges and risks to our current health information technology system and has reinforced IHS’ commitment to the modernization of our health IT infrastructure. Despite these challenges, we have successfully expanded our use of technology to provide telehealth services during COVID-19.The funding for electronic health record modernization provided by Congress will allow us to proceed with the foundational steps in this important multi-year effort.

Importance of Partnerships

We look forward to continuing our work with tribal, urban Indian organization, and federal partners across the country. The IHS remains committed to working closely with our stakeholders and understands the importance of everyone coming together during this difficult time.

For the latest general information about COVID-19, we encourage everyone to periodically review CDC’s COVID-19 webpage Exit Disclaimer: You Are Leaving www.ihs.gov . Information on the number of COVID-19 vaccines administered across the IHS can be found on the CDC COVID Data Tracker Exit Disclaimer: You Are Leaving www.ihs.gov  in the Federal Entities section.

COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution and Administration by IHS Area

As of March 12, 2023, the IHS is distributing all COVID-19 vaccines currently authorized or approved in the U.S., including Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Novavax. Janssen/Johnson & Johnson may still be in stock and available for administration at IHS sites, but it is no longer available for order in the U.S. The table below shows the total number of vaccine doses distributed and administered to date, per IHS Area, for facilities that chose to receive vaccine through the IHS jurisdiction. The data includes COVID-19 vaccinations administered to all ages and specialty groups authorized for emergency use or fully licensed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Total Doses Distributed

Area	Total Doses Distributed	Total Doses Administered**
Albuquerque	284,980	202,546
Bemidji	333,520	186,780
Billings	195,820	89,331
California	494,030	236,030
Great Plains	389,570	186,117
Nashville	212,830	116,721
Navajo	677,170	430,766
Oklahoma City	876,675	533,226
Phoenix	468,785	268,550
Portland	219,300	114,682
Tucson	22,320	14,984
Grand Total	4,175,000	2,379,733

*Distributed Data Source: IHS National Supply Service Center, includes total doses ordered and delivered by March 10 2023, to facilities that chose the IHS jurisdiction for vaccine distribution.

**Administered Data Source: Data is reported from the Vaccine Administration Management System (VAMS) and IHS Central Aggregator Service (CAS). Data may be different than data on the CDC COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker due to lags and ongoing quality review of data, including resolving data errors.

Note:The COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution and Administration by IHS Area data is only reflective of facilities that chose the IHS jurisdiction for vaccine distribution. Alaska Area data is not reported as all tribes chose to receive COVID-19 vaccine from the State of Alaska. The Tucson Area data only includes one tribe that chose the IHS jurisdiction for vaccine distribution.

COVID-19 Cases by IHS Area

Data are reported from IHS, tribal, and urban Indian organization facilities, though reporting by tribal and urban programs is voluntary. Data reflect cases reported to the IHS through 11:59 pm on Mar 15, 2023.

IHS Area	Tested	Positive	Negative	Cumulative percent positive	7-day rolling average positivity
Alaska	1,140,363	57,757	931,780	5.8%	14.9%
Albuquerque	186,326	17,494	143,188	10.9%	8.8%
Bemidji	333,698	35,018	297,110	10.5%	9.4%
Billings	163,617	14,493	144,196	9.1%	0.0%
California	211,107	23,910	176,572	11.9%	7.2%
Great Plains	321,737	34,920	281,501	11.0%	17.9%
Nashville	211,543	23,271	177,526	11.6%	6.9%
Navajo	627,372	92,238	457,244	16.8%	14.5%
Oklahoma	1,304,384	194,932	1,098,526	15.1%	12.4%
Phoenix	352,517	53,260	295,122	15.3%	9.1%
Portland	264,662	23,719	240,342	9.0%	14.2%
Tucson	88,169	10,060	77,855	11.4%	19.5%
TOTAL	5,205,495	581,072	4,320,962	11.9%	13.2%

COVID-19 testing data is updated on Thursdays.