Whatcom receives no first doses of COVID-19 vaccines this week as state shifts focus
Here is the latest on who is eligible for the COVID-19 virus vaccine and where can you get it in Whatcom County. The information is frequently updated as vaccine availability changes.
Washington state allocates vaccines it receives from the federal government, based in part on reported need and providers’ ability to properly store and distribute, to state clinics, county clinics and private and public health care clinics and pharmacies.
Getting vaccinated remains challenging and frustrating as a nationwide shortage continues.
For the week of Feb. 15, Whatcom County providers were allocated no first doses of vaccine, and the state Department of Health warned that the distribution of first doses would be limited this week because it was prioritizing second doses. The county will receive 2,400 second doses of this week.
“First and second dose amounts have gotten out of balance in Washington,” the county health department said in its weekly report of vaccine allocations.
State officials were asked during a Tuesday, Feb. 16, press conference by Gov. Jay Inslee about Whatcom receiving no first doses this week.
“There was a very limited supply of first doses that went out this week,” said DOH’s Lacy Fehrenbach, deputy secretary for COVID response, while Inslee said the state was “trying to be geographically fair.”
Inslee said the federal government has promised that more vaccine was coming Washington state.
PeaceHealth already has said it will have no first doses this week.
Family Care Network also didn’t receive any first doses from the state this week but was scheduling about 200 vaccine appointments for its patients starting at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 16, as part of a process to “square up” its previous orders, according to Michele Anderson, spokesperson for the health care provider.
Vaccination dashboard
The state’s vaccination report for Friday, Feb. 12, said that as of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 10, Whatcom County had administered 21,484 vaccinations — an increase of 2,593 vaccinations from Wednesday’s report, which was through 11:59 p.m. Monday, Feb. 8. No update was posted Monday, Feb. 15, due to the President’s Day holiday.
An average of 512 Whatcom County residents per day received a vaccination dose from Feb. 4 to Feb. 10, up from the 320 seven-day average on Wednesday. Vaccination data is released Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The state estimates that 9.43% of the county (or 21,252 residents) have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 2.93% of the county (or 6,611 residents) are fully vaccinated. The number of vaccines given and people vaccinated may not match, according to the dashboard, because people may be vaccinated in counties other than where they live.
According to data released Friday, Whatcom residents have received approximately 2% of the 1,057,844 total vaccine doses administered in the state — up from 1.9% in Wednesday’s report — and has administered the 12th-most doses in the state.
For comparison, Whatcom County represents 3% of the state’s total population and is the state’s ninth-largest county, according to 2019 U.S. Census estimates.
Who is eligible for vaccination
Washington state is allowing vaccinations by phases. Check yours online.
Those in phase 1B, tier 1, have been eligible for vaccination since Jan. 18:
▪ All people 65 years and older.
▪ People 50 years and older in multi-generational households where they live with and care for their parents or a grandchild.
▪ People who are over the age of 50 and are not able to live independently, who either receive long-term care from a paid or unpaid caregiver or are living with someone who works outside the home.
Not eligible in this phase are people younger than 50, people over 50 who care for a partner or friend, or any parent or guardian caring for their small child or teen.
Previously and still eligible for vaccination from phase 1A:
▪ High-risk health care workers.
▪ High-risk first responders.
▪ Residents and staff of congregate living settings, such as nursing homes.
▪ All other workers in health care settings who are at risk.
Next up, but not yet eligible, will be tier 2 of phase 1B, which includes:
▪ Workers 50 years and older who work in certain congregate settings, including agriculture, food processing, correction facilities, grocery stores, public transit, educators and child care.
The date for when this group can get vaccinated hasn’t been announced.
Where to get vaccinated
As of Tuesday, Feb. 16, most of these health care systems have an appointment-only process and those seeking appointments should do so online. Some said they will reach out to qualified patients themselves. Many sites were seeing phone systems overloaded with those seeking vaccines and ask people not to call to inquire about getting their shots.
▪ Family Care Network: Is providing the Moderna vaccine and will schedule appointments for its established, specific, high-risk patients in eligible tiers as supplies become available. It is not maintaining a wait list.
Family Care Network opened about 200 vaccine appointments for scheduling starting at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16.
“We were able to open 200 appointments because previously, before we had clear direction on how primary and booster doses would be supplied, we had to use a small amount of first dose allocation to cover second doses that were due,” Anderson explained to The Bellingham Herald in an email.
“This was done based on state guidance to prioritize booster doses for those who had already received a first dose. In January, the state shifted their process to guarantee second doses and is allowing vaccine providers a small window to ‘square up’ previous orders,” she added. “Going forward, we will know exactly which shipments are designated for primary and booster doses and be able to open appointments based on the supply we receive each week.”
For example, Family Care Network expects to receive 300 booster (second) doses by the end of this week that will be used for already scheduled second dose appointments the following week, Anderson said.
Patients can seek an appointment for the 200 slots by going online to covidvaccine.fcn.net or by calling 360-733-1342.
“If no appointments are showing, all appointments are full and/or no appointments are available due to lack of supply. With our current allocation, we are not able to run vaccine clinics every day and/or at every location,” the health care provider says on its website.
Family Care Network said it will provide 24 hours notice through its website and social media when the next round of appointments are available.
PeaceHealth: Vaccine appointments are only available for community health care workers and PeaceHealth Medical Group patients who are eligible based on Washington state guidelines. Patients whose medical records (age, medical conditions) indicate eligibility will be notified via email when they can schedule an appointment. PeaceHealth is not maintaining a wait list. St. Joseph hospital has cold-storage facilities that allows it to use the Pfizer vaccine. It also receives the Moderna vaccine.
PeaceHealth is expecting no first doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for its Whatcom County locations this week from the Washington State Department of Health, according to a social media post.
PeaceHealth, which operates Bellingham’s St. Joseph hospital, has been notified by the state to only expect booster, or second, doses of the vaccines for the week of Feb. 14-20, according to a post Monday on Nextdoor.com by hospital spokesperson Bev Mayhew.
PeaceHealth will continue to provide second doses to PeaceHealth and community health care workers in Phase 1A and early recipients of Phase 1B1, Mayhew reported.
“We have no first dose supply available, so (we) will not be reaching out to anyone not previously contacted,” Mayhew wrote.
PeaceHealth is hoping to receive more first doses next week (Feb. 21 and after), allowing it to “pick up where we left off,” Mayhew reported. That would mean providing first and second doses to remaining Phase 1A health workers and contacting patients 83 and older who have established health care with a PeaceHealth provider.
Vaccine notices will be sent out by PeaceHealth’s online portal, Mayhew stated, and staff will follow up with phone calls to individuals who do not respond via the online portal.
“Thanks for your continued patience,” Mayhew wrote.
The snow that slammed Whatcom County this past weekend didn’t deter people from getting their vaccine shots, Mayhew told The Bellingham Herald, noting PeaceHealth had few cancellations.
People were “motivated to get their vaccines,” she said.
▪ Sea Mar: Has a first-come, first-served walk-in system, but check availability online first. As of 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sea Mar said it had no doses of the Moderna vaccine, which is what it is distributing.
▪ Unity Care NW: The health care provider says its vaccine supply remains “very low” and that it will contact eligible patients to schedule vaccinations when it gets more doses.
The state also has an online map that lists some providers that are enrolled to receive vaccine doses and are vaccinating people. Because vaccine supply is very limited in Whatcom County, the featured providers may not have vaccine or may be fully booked.
Only providers who want to be on the map are listed. In addition to PeaceHealth and Sea Mar, the list so far includes Costco on Arctic Avenue; the two Fred Meyers on Lakeway Drive and West Bakerview Road; Haggen on Woburn Street; Safeway on Guide Meridian Road; and Mt. Shuksan Family Medicine and Dermatology on Cornwall Avenue.
Residents of long-term care facilities nationally are being vaccinated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in partnership with CVS, Walgreens and others. Such doses, along with allocations for tribes, are not included in the numbers reported weekly by the Whatcom County Health Department.
The federal government has, for the first time, started to send vaccines directly to retail pharmacies — a move that would create new access for people who are eligible.
In Washington state, pharmacies participating in the new federal program include Albertsons Companies (Safeway, Haggen and Albertsons); Costco; and Health Mart Pharmacies.
Albertsons officials said its in-store pharmacies started giving vaccinations on Feb. 11, adding that people can check for appointments at one site, mhealthappointments.com/covidappt. A quick check late Tuesday afternoon showed no appointments were available in Whatcom County.
Vaccine doses sent directly from the federal government to pharmacies through this new program will bypass state vaccine pools, which means they won’t be captured in the weekly numbers released by the Whatcom County Health Department.
Prior to the program’s start, vaccine distributed to pharmacies came from doses allocated to providers in Whatcom County by the state.
About this week’s first doses...
The Washington State Department of Health on Friday announced in a release that first-dose appointments would be extremely limited this week, as it focuses on second doses.
Providers requested approximately 170,000 second doses statewide, according to the release, which is significantly higher than the 92,325 second doses the state was allocated.
“The difference is likely due to the fact that some providers in Washington used doses of vaccine that were intended to complete the two dose vaccine series as the initial dose when vaccinating community members earlier in January,” the release read. “Unfortunately, this now means that a portion of next week’s available first doses will need to be used to complete the series for these people.
“This focus on second dose administration is anticipated to be for this coming week and is anticipated to be less so for upcoming weeks.”
The state said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also delayed vaccine shipments until Tuesday, due to weather concerns across the country.
“We are monitoring the distribution of doses closely and making adjustments as needed,” Washington State Secretary of Health Dr. Umair A. Shah said in the release. “While the limited availability of first doses will be challenging this coming week, focusing on second doses will help pave the way for an improved and more sustainable allocation of vaccines in future weeks.”
Government sites
▪ Whatcom County: 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 Jan. 27.
The Whatcom County Health Department also has said it is piloting a mobile vaccine clinic at a number of adult family homes to fill an existing gap.
▪ Skagit County: The Health Department has set up a mass-vaccination site at the fairgrounds in Mount Vernon. But offering shots depends on vaccine supply.
“Due to lack of supply, no first dose appointments are available for the week of Feb. 15. Second dose appointments will not be impacted,” the Skagit health department wrote on its website.
People are encouraged to check the website at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 20, for an update.
▪ Washington: The state is offering large-scale vaccination in Spokane, Ridgefield, Wenatchee and Kennewick. They are open by appointment only to people who register and are eligible for the vaccine phase.
About the vaccines
Vaccines approved and currently available in Washington are:
▪ Pfizer: Requires two doses 21 days apart; authorized for people 16 years and older; 95% effective.
▪ Moderna: Requires two doses 28 days apart; authorized for people 18 years and older; 94.1% effective.
The CDC provides more information about the vaccines.
—Staff writer Robert Mittendorf (rmittendorf@bhamherald.com) contributed to this story.
This story was originally published February 16, 2021 at 8:17 AM.
