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 June 26, 2022, the IHS is distributing all three COVID-19 vaccines currently authorized or approved in the U.S, including Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Janssen/Johnson & Johnson. 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). The IHS administration rate is 71% of doses received. The IHS jurisdiction is administering all available full doses in accordance with FDA guidance.

Area	Total Doses Distributed*	Total Doses Administered**
Albuquerque	211,290	188,474
Bemidji	252,620	177,474
Billings	139,730	80,994
California	372,330	225,729
Great Plains	261,030	167,024
Nashville	164,440	110,714
Navajo	467,280	390,526
Oklahoma City	709,365	516,747
Phoenix	353,305	249,254
Portland	170,950	108,805
Tucson	17,290	12,548
Grand Total	3,119,630	2,228,289

*Distributed Data Source: IHS National Supply Service Center, includes total doses ordered and delivered by June 24, 2022, 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 Jul 3, 2022.

IHS Area	Tested	Positive	Negative	Cumulative percent positive	7-day rolling average positivity
Alaska	1,076,141	51,918	885,414	5.5%	11.4%
Albuquerque	151,854	14,343	116,917	10.9%	17.8%
Bemidji	306,876	30,447	274,957	10.0%	13.2%
Billings	154,145	13,443	136,109	9.0%	11.9%
California	181,069	20,673	152,828	11.9%	23.5%
Great Plains	253,520	26,152	225,277	10.4%	9.4%
Nashville	167,715	17,660	145,049	10.9%	22.7%
Navajo	508,093	72,524	367,424	16.5%	28.9%
Oklahoma	1,085,669	163,209	911,583	15.2%	18.4%
Phoenix	306,389	45,622	258,080	15.0%	30.8%
Portland	237,446	19,931	216,869	8.4%	21.2%
Tucson	80,196	8,944	70,982	11.2%	33.6%
TOTAL	4,509,113	484,866	3,761,489	11.4%	19.6%

COVID-19 testing data is updated on Mondays and Thursdays by 5 pm ET.