‘How can I get a COVID-19 vaccine?’ Whatcom residents ask as rollout frustration continues
Michael Ryan and his wife are scheduled to get their COVID-19 vaccine in mid- to late-February, at an Oak Harbor pharmacy roughly 51 miles from their Bellingham home.
“If that’s the first place that’s available to get it, that’s worth the drive,” Michael Ryan, 76, said in an interview with The Bellingham Herald.
To get it, the couple spent hours on the phone calling around, after receiving word of mouth from friends and acquaintances who heard of vaccine availability at various pharmacies or health facilities in Whatcom and Skagit counties as well as on Whidbey Island.
“If one was informed early and was age-eligible one could get an appointment,” Ryan said of what he heard, adding that at one point, the couple spent nearly three hours on hold after learning that PeaceHealth had vaccine doses only to be turned away because their primary care provider wasn’t in that network.
They eventually got vaccine appointments at Island Drug in Oak Harbor.
The Ryans are among the up to 45,000 Whatcom County residents who became newly eligible for the vaccine starting Jan. 18 when Gov. Jay Inslee expanded the list of who could get it to people 65 years and older, and those who are 50 years and older who are living in multi-generational households — what’s known as the first tier of phase 1B.
Since then, residents here and elsewhere in the state have jammed phone lines and online systems trying to get appointments. Meanwhile, efforts to vaccinate people in phase 1A, which includes first responders, health care workers and people who live or work in long-term care facilities, are ongoing.
Officials have urged patience amid a national vaccine rollout that has been slow and bumpy as demand far exceeds supply, which remains unpredictable, for now, although Gov. Jay Inslee said Washington state’s allocation of the vaccines will increase by 16% and President Joe Biden is securing 200 million more doses of two COVID-19 vaccines.
Ryan said planning should have been better since officials knew vaccines were coming.
His frustrations have been echoed by others in emails to The Herald and on social media, where criticism has been sharp at times from people trying to get vaccinated.
“My wife and I firmly believe that first responders, health care workers, people in communal living facilities, and people with significant underlying health issues should receive the vaccine before us,” he said, adding that his frustration was “over what appears to be the lack of clear plans and criteria guiding the distribution of the limited supply in the state and county, not from frustration from not being vaccinated.”
He added: “I feel awfully lucky that we have a schedule to get the vaccination, but I am concerned about what seems to be the randomness of how people get it.”
Busy phone lines
Eligible residents, anxious to get vaccinated against COVID-19, have been asked to not call health care providers — they report fielding hundreds, sometimes thousands, of calls — and to instead check their websites, rely on patient portals, or wait until their providers reach out to them.
“Demand continues to far exceed supply in Whatcom County and statewide. All providers are struggling to schedule every eligible patient. Vaccinating everyone will take time,” the Whatcom County Health Department said in its vaccine update on Tuesday, Jan. 26.
The county health department does not administer the vaccine although officials said it is working with health care providers to launch a mass-vaccination effort in late February or early March, possibly sooner, provided there is adequate supply.
The issues are not just in Washington state, and there are untold stories across the country of people scrambling to lock in a coveted appointment to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
In order to provide the vaccine, health care organizations had to sign up through the Washington State Department of Health. The state receives doses from the federal government and then allocates them to authorized Washington providers who ask for doses each week and receive them based, in part, on their ability to store the vaccines, give shots and enter information into the state system in a timely manner. Population size by county and what the state calls equity in access across the state and for high-risk groups also factor into state allocation.
Each week, Washington state receives about 100,000 of what’s called first doses of the two vaccines that have been authorized for emergency use, Moderna and Pfizer. The amount that Whatcom County providers receive also is affected by the state’s focus.
For example, the state told providers that for the week of Jan. 25, its focus for the allocation of first doses would be state-led mass vaccination sites in Benton, Chelan, Clark and Spokane counties; increasing pharmacy locations across the state, particularly in communities that don’t yet have mass vaccination sites; and community health centers.
That shift of a limited supply means that “some providers, especially our hospital systems, will get less vaccine this week,” the state said in its letter to vaccine providers.
The state has so far allocated 13,850 first doses to Whatcom County providers, including 1,700 first doses last week, the county health department said on Jan. 26.
The two vaccines now being used require two doses.
To learn more, The Bellingham Herald also interviewed three health care providers in Whatcom County about their current vaccine distribution, which included answering criticisms from Herald readers and those leveled at them online.
Answers were provided last week.
Family Care Network
Ryan is a patient of Family Care Network, which told him it didn’t have vaccine doses available at the time he reached out, before he received the vaccine appointment at the Oak Harbor pharmacy.
“It is not surprising that word-of-mouth is how people are finding vaccine appointments. Each health care organization has their own plan, and it is hard to keep track of what they are all doing. I’m glad he could find an appointment in Oak Harbor,” said Michele Anderson, spokesperson for Family Care Network.
Anderson said that on Jan. 15, Family Care Network asked the state Department of Health for 3,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine, which is what the health care provider signed up to receive. It was allocated 200 doses on Jan. 25.
The health care provider has nearly 100,000 patients in Whatcom and Skagit counties, about 25,000 of whom are 65 and older.
It could provide 2,500 to 3,000 vaccines a week, with adequate supply, according to Anderson.
“That we don’t have more vaccine is frustrating for our patients and for our providers and staff. The unfortunate reality is that our supply barely scratches the surface of those who want a vaccine at (Family Care Network),” Anderson said. “We are actually very well organized and prepared to vaccinate our patients. The only thing missing is the vaccine.”
As of Jan. 25, it had been allocated 1,500 vaccine doses, which it has given to eligible employees, community workers and its own patients.
Anderson said the state Department of Health doesn’t mandate that health care providers give the vaccine to patients who aren’t part of its network.
Sea Mar
The community health center, which has locations in Bellingham and Everson, is providing vaccine shots on a walk-in basis.
Anyone who meets the state eligibility criteria can get vaccinated at Sea Mar, which has so far received 1,300 doses of the Moderna vaccine.
The amount “varies from week to week and some weeks our clinics do not receive any allocation,” Kristina Hoeschen, chief compliance officer for Sea Mar said to The Herald on Monday, Jan. 25.
Sea Mar, which has health centers throughout Washington state, implemented walk-ins because doing so “allows us to provide more vaccines per day,” Hoeschen said.
“Before we implemented walk-in vaccines, we were averaging about 230 vaccines a day Sea Mar-wide. With the walk-in model, we were able to increase that to a to-date high of 1,800 per day, organization-wide,” she added. “This format allows us to get more vaccines to more people, more quickly. Additionally, our clinics cannot handle the call volume to schedule appointments for vaccines while also managing regular patient needs.”
Its initial approach was criticized by a Herald reader, who expressed concern about having to wait outside in a line, specifically during cold weather at the Everson clinic, for two to three hours before being informed how many shots were available. Some of the people in line were frail.
“Last week was the first week of expanded eligibility, and this resulted in unexpected long lines starting more than two hours before our clinics opened,” Hoeschen said on Jan. 25, adding that staff did ask people to wait in cars but some opted to stand in line.
“Going forward, we will insist they wait in cars and will make accommodations as needed. We have adapted the process so managers are arriving early in the morning, long before opening, to communicate vaccine availability with anyone in line to avoid unnecessary waiting. We will be taking names and phone numbers and asking patients to wait in their cars until they are called to come into the clinic and receive the vaccine on a first-come, first-served basis,” she said, adding that people are being asked to check Sea Mar’s website, which is updated throughout the day as needed, for vaccine availability before coming to the clinic.
PeaceHealth
Whatcom County’s largest health care provider, which also serves other communities in the state, including Skagit County, is being criticized for not providing the vaccine to patients who aren’t in its network.
Like Family Care Network, PeaceHealth said it’s not aware of a state requirement to vaccinate others outside its network.
The Herald has asked the state Department of Health about the matter and is waiting for an answer.
PeaceHealth has at least 30,000 patients in the first tier of phase 1B who are eligible to receive the vaccine, and it has received “about 2,500 vaccine doses in previous weeks and none this week,” Misty Parris, vice president of operations for PeaceHealth Medical Group Northwest, said to The Herald on Wednesday, Jan. 27.
“Up until this week, the amount of vaccine shipped to us was adequate to vaccinate both PeaceHealth and community health care workers. That is not the case this week,” Parris added. “We want to do our part to help ensure that every eligible person in our community who wants a vaccine will receive one, including those most vulnerable among us. The vaccine supply is extraordinarily limited now, but that will change over time as more vaccine is made available to PeaceHealth and to other providers in our community.”
In total, its St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham has received 9,750 doses of the Pfizer vaccine as of Jan. 27, of which 100 doses were transferred to Skagit Regional Health for one of its vaccine clinics.
Pfizer was the first COVID-19 vaccine out of the gate. It needs to be stored at minus 70 degrees Celsius, and the hospital is among the relatively few facilities to have an ultra-low temperature freezer.
About 6,500 of the Pfizer doses were given, or have been allocated, to PeaceHealth caregivers, providers and volunteers.
Its PeaceHealth Medical Group has received 2,500 doses of the Moderna vaccine — some from the state and some transferred from other facilities, Parris said, adding that nearly 100% of the doses received have been allocated for first or second doses that have been scheduled.
PeaceHealth continues to focus primarily on vaccinating health care workers, both within PeaceHealth and the community. The latter totaled about 1,200 from throughout the county who have received their first dose, Parris said.
In addition, a total of 2,200 people who are 65 and older have received the first dose and will need a second dose within three weeks, she said.
“It’s important to keep in mind that because we are committed to giving people a second dose after their first — roughly three to four weeks later — we need to be very careful how we manage our supply,” Parris said referring to the 1,200 health care workers in the community and the 2,200 people who are 65 and older who still need their second doses.
That required PeaceHealth to cancel first-dose vaccine appointments for others last week because of a lack of doses coming from the state.
As for the criticism, Parris said: “We understand and can appreciate the frustration that many people are feeling right now.’
“ ‘How can I get a vaccine?’ is the No. 1 question that we are asked. We look forward to the time when we — collectively — have adequate supply in our community to vaccinate everyone who is eligible, but it will take time for the supply to match demand,” she said.
Because of limited supply, PeaceHealth said it is reaching out to patients whose health records indicates they are eligible to schedule vaccine appointments, including those who are most vulnerable. The health care provider won’t schedule appointments unless it has doses available.
For now, Parris said it’s important to continue to focus on wearing a mask, physical distancing and hand-washing.
“Those measures, plus patience, will get us through this next period of the pandemic locally, and greater predictability in the vaccine supply chain, longer lead times, and increased vaccine supply are all factors that will contribute to a more robust vaccine rollout across the nation,” Parris said.
Vaccine information
Learn more online at:
▪ whatcomcounty.us/covidvaccine — the Whatcom County Health Department will provide updates on vaccine availability when it has those details.
▪ whatcomcounty.us/coviddata for COVID-19 vaccine-related data from the Washington State Department of Health.
▪ CovidVaccineWA.org has a breakdown of vaccination phases and the vaccination timeline in Washington state.
▪ findyourphasewa.org to check your eligibility for the vaccine.
