BILLINGS — Yellowstone County Health Officer John Felton said Tuesday that roughly 46% of Montana's eligible population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and the number in Yellowstone County is lower at 44%.
Because large-scale vaccination clinics are shut down, the main place to get people vaccinated is small-scale clinics at businesses and events, he said.
The state and Yellowstone County are roughly in line with the national vaccination rate, which stood at 45% on Tuesday.
Felton also mentioned that he hopes the vaccine will get approved for children under the age of 12 before school begins again in August.
“The important thing about getting those school kids vaccinated is if those vaccinated kids get exposed to COVID-19 they don’t have to quarantine," Felton said.
"They don’t need to quarantine, which means the kid doesn’t have to miss school, mom and dad don’t have to stay home from work, so I think it’s really important that those school-age kids get vaccinated,” Felton added.
On Tuesday morning, the White House announced the country hit the 150 million mark for fully vaccinated Americans.
In Montana's eight most populous counties, Missoula continues to lead the way with almost 60% of the eligible population vaccinated.
Silver Bow County stands at 56%, Lewis and Clark County reports a 53% vaccination rate and Gallatin County stands at 52%.
Both Ravalli and Yellowstone counties record a 44% vaccination rate while Cascade County is at 41%.
Flathead County has the lowest vaccination numbers of the state’s most populous counties at 37%.
The latest information on COVID-19 cases and vaccination rates in Montana can be found here.