COVID vaccine distribution progressing in Whatcom, but ‘but it will take several months’
As of Monday, Whatcom County had received a little more than a third of the COVID-19 vaccinations it needs to cover the top tier in the state’s distribution plan, county health officials said Wednesday.
“We know many people are excited to be vaccinated and want to know how and when that’s going to happen, but we’re asking everyone to remain patient,” Whatcom County Health Department Health Information and Assessment Supervisor Amy Hockenberry said during an online briefing Jan. 6. “This is one of the most complicated vaccinations in history.”
Hockenberry, who is serving as the county’s vaccination planning lead, estimated Whatcom County has between 14,000 and 16,000 people who meet the criteria for the top tier of Phase 1 (or Phase 1A) of the Washington State Department of Health’s Vaccine Distribution Plan.
As of Monday, Hockenberry said Whatcom County had received approximately 5,900 doses — between approximately 42% and 37% of what the county would need to vaccinate all those who meet Phase 1A criteria. Those numbers do not include long-term care facilities, who are working through the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Pharmacy Partnership to provide vaccine to those vulnerable populations.
While Phase 1A vaccinations are limited to those at the highest risk, such as healthcare providers, paramedics or others who are most likely to come in direct contact with those of have contracted coronavirus, the second tier (or Phase 1B) would expand to other essential workers, such as law enforcement, teachers and grocery store workers, Hockenberry said.
She estimated it will be “several weeks” — perhaps in late January — until the county is given the go-ahead by the state to move on and begin vaccinating the second tier of Phase 1.
Hockenberry and Whatcom County Health Director Erika Lautenbach both emphasized that the criteria for each phase and decisions about who falls within each phase was made by the state Department of Health and not the county health department.
“We have received a lot of requests and emails from people who are 1A or think they should be in 1A that want to be vaccinated,” Lautenbach said during the briefing. “We’re asking that individuals do not call the health department to ask, because we are not able to answer those questions for individuals.”
Instead, Lautenbach and Hockenberry said it is best for individuals to speak to either their employers or their healthcare providers to find out which phase they fall into and when they should expect to be vaccinated.
Employers, meanwhile, are welcome to contact the health department for information, Lautenbach said.
Hockenberry also recommended individuals check out a new online tool the state Department of Health is offering to help find which phase people fall into and when they should expect to receive their vaccination.
Residents are asked to answer a series of questions through a form provided by the state Department of Health. Contact information will be kept private, the form says, and only used to notify residents when they become eligible to receive the vaccine, if they are not already.
“Everyone who wants to be vaccinated will have a chance to do so,” Hackenberry said, “but it will take several months until the vaccine is available to everyone.”
The state is still collected data on the number of people who have been vaccinated so far, Hackenberry said, adding that she hopes it isn’t long until the county can begin providing updates on the number of Whatcom County residents who have received the vaccine.
To this point, Lautenbach said nobody who has received the vaccine in Whatcom County has had any adverse reactions, other than the minor side effects that were expected, such as soreness at the injection site, fever, chills or other side effects expected with any vaccination.
Next phase
As Whatcom and the rest of the state progress through Phase 1A vaccination, the state on Wednesday released new information about who will be part of Phase 1B.
“Vaccine prioritization decisions are complex, but based in a need for equitable distribution,” Secretary of Health Umair A. Shah said in a release Wednesday. “Our priority has been to get the vaccine to high-priority people first.”
The state Department of Health, in a release, said the phase will be broken down into four tiers:
▪ Phase 1B1 (Tier 1): People 70 and older and people 50 and older who live in multi-generational households.
▪ Phase 1B2 (Tier 2): High-risk critical workers 50 and older who work in congregate settings, such as agriculture, food processing, grocery stores, teachers, childcare, corrections, prisons, jails, public transit, fire and law enforcement.
▪ Phase 1B3 (Tier 3): People 16 and older with two or more co-morbidities or underlying conditions.
▪ Phase 1B4 (Tier 4): High-risk critical workers who work in certain congregate settings under the age of 50 and people, staff and volunteers at congregate living settings, such as correctional facilities, group homes and homeless shelters.
State vaccination numbers
The state Department of Health, in a second release Wednesday, said that as of Tuesday, 425,900 doses of COVID vaccines have been delivered to the state.
Of that total, 110,225 doses have been administered since mid-December, though it added there is a three-day lag in that information. Those numbers also do not include doses set aside for long-term care facilities, the release states.
“Right now, our priority is getting vaccine to people quickly so that we can stay on track and hit our goals of moving into Phase 1B by the middle of January,” Assistant Secretary Michele Roberts, one of the leaders of the state’s vaccine effort, said in the release. “We need the continued partnership of our local health and healthcare providers to plan and host clinics to get more vaccine into arms.”
During the fourth week of vaccine allocation, the state said it is expecting 44,850 first doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 62,400 second doses of the vaccine. Additionally, it expects 44,100 first doses of the Moderna vaccine and an additional 200 doses place for allocation are available from a previous week.
All told, the release said the state expects 103,825 doses will go to 135 sites in 34 counties and 47,725 doses will go to support long-term care facilities and five tribes and Urban Indian Health Programs. As of Tuesday, Jan. 5, the state reported 477 facilities were officially enrolled to provide COVID-19 vaccines.
This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 12:43 PM.
