South Dakota to lower age minimum for COVID-19 vaccinations

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SIOUX FALLS (AP) – The South Dakota Department of Health will be lowering the age for COVID-19 vaccinations to those who are 65 and over, officials said Wednesday.

Health officials said those who qualify in that age bracket should be eligible for shots beginning Monday.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that South Dakota has received more than 189,000 doses of vaccine and administered nearly 163,000 of those, or about 18,500 doses per 100,000 people. That is one of the top rates in the country, according to the CDC.

About 16% of the South Dakota's population has received at least one dose of the vaccine and more than 7% has received two shots, according to state figures.

South Dakota's weekly federal vaccine allocation will increase next week by nearly 14%, to 17,660 doses., state health officials said. That does not those include doses targeted to Veterans Affairs and Indian Health Services.

The state reported 92 new COVID-19 tests in the last day, increasing the total number to 110,685 since the start of the pandemic. The death toll remained unchanged at 1,844. Hospitalizations fell by three, to 94.

The COVID Tracking Project reports there were 245 new cases per 100,000 people in South Dakota over the past two weeks, which ranks 40th in the country for new cases per capita.