SD DoH now vaccinating priority group 1E, includes fire service personnel and critical infrastructure

PIERRE, S.D. — The South Dakota Department of Health is now vaccinating its next priority group, 1E.

Starting Monday, fire service personnel and critical infrastructure workers are eligible. Those workers include water and wastewater industries, energy, finance, food service, food and agriculture, and others.

Health Secretary Kim Malsam-Rysdon says South Dakota will meet the president’s timeline of having vaccines accessible to all adults by May 1.

“We feel our state is ahead of this timeline and we will continue to move forward – confident that if the allocation holds up and increases as projected we will be able to see all adults eligible before May 1,” Malsam-Rysdon said.

This week, the state will receive an additional 21,000 vaccines – most of them Pfizer, then Moderna – but just 1,000 of the single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine.