Distributing the COVID-19 vaccinations is a vital step in controlling the pandemic. South Dakota is currently one of the leading states in administering the approved vaccines.
Delivering the vaccine to people is a collaborative effort between federal, state and private organizations.
Kim Malsom-Rysdon is the South Dakota Secretary of health. She says the department has ordered every dose that’s available. The health secretary says communication and partnership are the keys to vaccinating everyone.
“This is unprecedented kind of work and so nobody’s got a playbook for this kinda stuff. So we work very actively with our partners to make the right allocation decisions – make sure that when we get vaccine to those communities that it can get to people quickly – because we do want to see everything that we get, in a week’s time, get into shots in arms.”
Malsom-Rysdon says they need to make sure no one gets left behind, especially in rural areas. She says the cooperation between the state’s healthcare organizations is a large part of the rollout’s success.
“The fact that we can put out a map of the state of South Dakota and say that every county in this state is covered by somebody who is going to take responsibility for making sure the population of that county is vaccinated – in situations where that healthcare partner maybe doesn’t have any services, you know, doesn’t have a footprint at all – I think that really speaks to the dedication of our healthcare community to what’s right for the population in our state.”
Malsom-Rysdon says interagency cooperation was key in responding to the pandemic, even before the vaccine became available. She says there are no easy answers and it’s important for people to see organizations working together.