Whatcom Health readying for mass COVID vaccinations when supply available
A mass COVID-19 vaccination effort could be launched by Whatcom County in late February or early March, possibly sooner — provided there is adequate supply, public health officials said during a briefing on Wednesday, Jan. 27.
The Whatcom County Health Department is working on that effort in collaboration with local health care providers.
“That’s going to depend on supply,” said Amy Hockenberry, vaccine planning lead for the Whatcom County Health Department, during the virtual media briefing.
Like other parts of Washington state and the U.S., the vaccine supply in Whatcom County lags the huge demand.
An estimated 59,000 Whatcom County residents are eligible to get the vaccine in the current phases of the rollout, which includes health care workers, first responders, people living and working in long-term care facilities, people 65 years and older, and those who are 50 years and older who are living in multi-generational households.
A total of 11,796 doses have been given to Whatcom County residents as of Jan. 23, the health department said.
Erika Lautenbach, director of the Whatcom County Health Department, said mass vaccination is particularly effective in areas where there are few vaccine providers.
Whatcom County has 26, she said, adding that providers here received 1,700 first doses this week.
Providers have told the Whatcom County Health Department that they could vaccinate 8,000 people this week if they had more doses, Lautenbach said.
“There are so many providers that have more capacity than supply,” she said.
Public health officials once again urged residents who are now eligible for the vaccine to not call providers in search of the vaccines, saying they should instead check their emails, patient portals or providers’ websites.
“They’re receiving so many calls that their phone systems are overwhelmed,” Hockenberry said.
People also can search for vaccine providers in the state by going to the Washington Department of Health’s vaccine finder at doh.wa.gov/YouandYourFamily/Immunization/VaccineLocations. The site doesn’t list all of the vaccine providers in Whatcom County, and people should expect that the listed providers also face issues of high demand and low supply.
County health department officials hope that vaccine distribution will increase in the next couple of weeks or months under President Joe Biden’s administration.
This story was originally published January 27, 2021 at 3:47 PM.
