State may provide COVID vaccinations at 4 airports

JUNEAU (AP) - The state health department is floating the idea of providing COVID-19 vaccinations to travelers at Alaska's busiest airports with the summer tourism and fishing seasons looming.

The department released a request for information March 24, seeking to determine interest among potential contractors to provide a one-dose vaccine to interested travelers in a secure section of the airports in Anchorage, Juneau, Fairbanks and Ketchikan.

The document said implementing strategies to reduce COVID-19 transmission through Alaska communities is critical with the travel activity expected between May and October.

The only one-dose vaccine currently approved by the federal government is the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which has been approved for people 18 and older. The Alaska Division of Public Health would use the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, subject to availability.

The state health department request asks interested contractors to provide staffing plans and estimates for what they think it would cost to administer the program.

Division of Public Health Director Heidi Hedberg told reporters March 25 that in addition to gauging interest among contractors, officials would need to wait for increased allocations of the vaccine from the federal government. But she said the state health department is looking at "sometime late spring, hopefully before tourist season picks up" to be able to set up vaccine sites at airports.

Testing for COVID-19 is available at several airports in Alaska, including in Wrangell, although such tests are not required by the state since a disaster declaration ended last month.

There is an ongoing debate at the state Capitol over whether a disaster declaration is needed. Gov. Mike Dunleavy has argued it is not, and is instead asking lawmakers for what he calls "limited tools to navigate what has become the endgame of COVID-19."

Dunleavy's administration, which in January proposed a disaster declaration through September, said circumstances have changed since then. The state health commissioner, Adam Crum, told lawmakers March 24 he does not believe Alaska's COVID-19 situation rises to the level of being declared a disaster under state disaster laws.

According to the state health department, 27% of Alaskans 16 or older are fully vaccinated.

The federal Centers for Disease Control considers people fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving a single-dose vaccine, or two weeks after their second dose of a two-shot vaccine.

Dunleavy, a Republican, said he worries that a new disaster declaration would hurt the state's tourism industry. In a letter to lawmakers, he said declaring a disaster could "lead travelers to incorrectly assume that Alaska's situation is deteriorating, jeopardizing the livelihoods of those working in one of our largest and hardest-hit industries."

Some lawmakers argue the state should err on the side of caution and provide Dunleavy with the powers available under state disaster laws, whether he wants to use those or not. Others have shown interest in authorizing narrower powers.

Despite the governor's opposition to a disaster declaration, the state House last Friday approved legislation extending Alaska's public health disaster emergency, sending the bill to the Senate for its consideration.