Finding a COVID vaccine in Whatcom is hard, but providers are setting appointments
Here is the latest on who is eligible for the COVID-19 virus vaccine and where you can get it in Whatcom County. The information is frequently updated as vaccine availability changes.
The Washington State Department of Health allocates vaccines it receives from the federal government based, in part, on reported need and providers’ ability to properly store and distribute doses. These allocations are going to state clinics and county clinics, private and public health care clinics, and pharmacies.
For the week of Feb. 22, the state Department of Health allocated 2,540 first vaccine doses to Whatcom County and 3,270 second doses.
Finding a vaccination appointment remains challenging and frustrating as a nationwide shortage continues, and recent winter storms have hampered vaccine shipments, although public health officials continue to say that the supply should increase in the coming weeks.
Whatcom County officials continue to field inquiries from residents who can’t get vaccinated despite searching, who wonder why a centralized system for scheduling doesn’t exist.
“The question we get most from people is they’re eligible, they’re in this phase, but they can’t figure out how to get an appointment,” Whatcom County Council member Todd Donovan said during the council’s COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday, Feb. 23.
In Whatcom County, there are 37 vaccine providers who, if they have vaccine doses, have different and separate scheduling systems.
“It is fragmented right now. We understand how frustrating it is to know that you’re eligible but you don’t know where you can access it,” acknowledged Dr. Greg Stern, Whatcom County’s health officer, noting centralized scheduling wasn’t built into federal or state plans for the vaccine rollout.
Stern likened the various vaccine sites to how the flu vaccine is now distributed — from doctor’s offices to pharmacies to work-site clinics.
Erika Lautenbach, director of the Whatcom County Health Department, said that having 37 vaccine providers will be a positive because there will be different access points.
“Once the supply meets the demand, these options will be seen as a benefit rather than a hindrance,” she said to the County Council.
Stern urged patience.
“It’s not a very good distribution system but it’s what we have right now,” he said. “I think our way out is going to be having enough supply so we’re asking for some patience, knowing that it will get better. There’s going to be more types of vaccine available and more vaccine available.”
Lautenbach said that, as of Monday, 43% of Whatcom County residents who are eligible to receive the vaccine have gotten their first dose and 20% of those who are eligible are fully vaccinated.
That 43% represents about 26,000 individuals in Whatcom, she said, out of an estimated 60,000 individuals who are eligible in the current phases of the vaccine rollout.
“We certainly have more work to do,” Lautenbach said, “but with that additional infusion of first doses this week, that will continue to help.”
Meanwhile, a Bellingham Herald analysis shows that Whatcom residents are still having to travel outside the county to get vaccinated at a rate that’s higher than just about the rest of the state.
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 50 and unable 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.
The federal government allocation to Washington state is one vaccine stream.
Long-term care facilities, Native American tribes and retail pharmacies also receive doses directly from the federal government. These doses are not reflected in weekly state allocation numbers, so it’s not known exactly how much vaccine is coming to Whatcom County, the county health department told The Bellingham Herald in an email.
In one example, Lautenbach said that the health department had hoped to learn how many vaccines the federal government was shipping to retail pharmacies — an effort that started in February to broaden access — on a regular basis, but that isn’t happening.
“We’re kind of chasing those numbers as well,” she said to the County Council on Tuesday. “It is possible more doses are coming to Whatcom County through that program as well.”
Where to get vaccinated
As of Wednesday, Feb. 24, most of these health care systems have an appointment-only process and those seeking appointments should do so online.
Some have 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.
Vaccine supply remains limited.
▪ Associates in Family Medicine: Says its vaccine supply remains limited. It asks people to fill out a form online for contact when more doses are available.
▪ 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 waitlist.
The health care provider didn’t schedule first-dose appointments this week, but planned to make an announcement by end of day Monday, March 1, as to whether appointments will be available next week, according to its post on Monday, Feb. 22.
Family Care Network continues to work on same-day appointments for when an extra dose can be drawn from a vial of COVID vaccine, the health care provider said on its website.
There will be a maximum of 15 slots for same-day appointments, provided there are extra doses.
Same-day appointments will be scheduled by phone only starting on the following dates and times:
▪ Wednesday, Feb. 24, 3 p.m.
▪ Thursday, Feb. 25, 2 p.m.
Call the vaccine scheduling line at 360-733-1342.
▪ PeaceHealth: Vaccine appointments are available only 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 called or emailed about scheduling an appointment. PeaceHealth is not maintaining a waitlist. St. Joseph hospital has cold-storage facilities that allow it to receive the Pfizer vaccine. It also receives the Moderna vaccine.
For the second week in a row, PeaceHealth said that it doesn’t expect to receive first doses of COVID-19 vaccines from the state Department of Health.
▪ Sea Mar: Has a first-come, first-served walk-in system, but check availability online first.
▪ Unity Care NW: The health care provider continues to say that its vaccine supply remains “very low” and that it will contact eligible patients to schedule vaccinations when it receives doses.
▪ Department of Health map: It can be found on a website that lists some vaccine providers in Whatcom and other parts of Washington. Because vaccine supply is very limited, the featured providers may not have vaccine or may be fully booked.
The map is at covidvaccineWA.org.
Only providers that want to be are listed, and those listed have changed since last week. Also new is information on whether the listed providers have vaccine appointments available, although not all providers are updating the availability information in a timely manner.
In addition to Sea Mar and Associates in Family Medicine, the list for Whatcom County now includes Costco on Arctic Avenue; Ferndale Pharmacy on Alder Street; Fred Meyer on Lakeway Drive; Haggen on Woburn Street; Mt. Shuksan Family Medicine and Dermatology on Cornwall Avenue; Safeway on Guide Meridian Road; and Nooksack Valley Drug on East Main Street in Everson.
▪ Federal pharmacy program: The federal government has started to send vaccines directly to retail pharmacies — a move that would create new access for people who are eligible.
In Washington state, participating pharmacies include Albertsons Companies (Safeway, Haggen and Albertsons); Costco; and Health Mart Independent Pharmacies.
Albertsons officials said its in-store pharmacies started giving vaccinations on Feb. 11, adding that people can check for appointments at one website, mhealthappointments.com/covidappt. a check on Wednesday, Feb. 24, showed that no appointments were available.
The state said that more chain pharmacies in Washington are joining the program because allocation is expected to increase. The pharmacies are Walmart, Rite Aid and Kroger (Fred Meyer and QFC).
Check whether Rite Aid is scheduling vaccine appointments at riteaid.com/pharmacy/covid-qualifier.
Pharmacies also can receive vaccines from the state Department of Health.
Government sites
▪ Whatcom County: A mass COVID-19 vaccination effort will be launched by a coalition of Whatcom County health care providers and the health department in March, provided there is vaccine supply, public health officials announced last week.
Public health officials and Whatcom providers are getting ready for the clinic, which will be at Bellingham Technical College. More details are coming, officials said.
▪ Skagit County: The Health Department has set up a mass-vaccination site at the fairgrounds in Mount Vernon but vaccinations depend on vaccine supply.
People are being told to check availability at noon on Saturday, Feb. 27, at https://www.skagitcounty.net/Departments/HealthDiseases/coronavirusvaccine.htm.
▪ 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.
One-stop help
Volunteers have stepped forward to help people find vaccines or find them easier. Both are online.
▪ CovidWA.com is compiling just about all of the available vaccine appointments throughout the state, according to a KING 5 story. Users type in their zip code to get the information, and they may have to travel to get their shots.
▪ Find a COVID shot WA, a private group on Facebook, has what it calls “search party volunteers” that help people find appointments if they post using #searching. It has nearly 26,000 members.
The group also focuses on obtaining vaccine appointments for those most affected by COVID-19 — people with disabilities, those who are 70 years and older, people with limited English, and those who are Black, Indigenous and people of color. Vaccine seekers in these categories post using #support.
In addition, Whatcom County residents trying to find vaccine appointments but who don’t have a computer or internet access are being advised to call the state Department of Health toll-free hotline at 1-800-525-0127, then press #.
Hotline hours are:
▪ 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday.
▪ 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday and on observed state holidays.
Vaccination dashboard
The state’s vaccination report for Monday, Feb. 22, said that as of 11:59 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20, Whatcom County had administered 29,560 vaccinations — an increase of 18,49 vaccinations from Friday’s report, which was through 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 17.
An average of 569 Whatcom County residents per day received a vaccination dose from Feb. 14-20, down from the 843 seven-day average on Wednesday. Vaccination data is released Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The state estimates that 11.54% of the county (or 25,996 residents) has received its first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 5.34% of the county (or 12,030 residents) is 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.
In fact, Whatcom County residents are having to travel outside the county to receive the vaccine at a higher rate than most of the rest of the state, according to data analysis by The Bellingham Herald, as the total number of vaccine doses received by Whatcom County residents (38,026 combined first and second doses received) is 22.3% higher (8,466 doses) than the 29,560 doses administered in the county.
The only counties with higher rates are Douglas, which is next to a state mass vaccination site in Wenatchee, and Franklin, which is next to a state mass vaccination site in Kennewick.
According to analysis of Monday’s data by The Herald, Whatcom residents have received approximately 2.76% of the 1,379,318 total vaccine doses given in the state — down from 2.8% in Friday’s report.
But the county has administered only 2.14% of the state’s total — down from 2.18% in Friday’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 Bureau estimates.
Based on 2019 five-year population estimates from the Census, The Herald’s analysis found Whatcom County has administered 0.13 doses of vaccine per resident, which ranks 32nd in the state.
With residents traveling to get the vaccine, Whatcom County has received 0.17 doses of vaccine per resident, which ranks 24th in the state.
Both are behind the overall state average of 0.19 doses per resident.
—David Rasbach, drasbach@bhamherald.com
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.
This story was originally published February 24, 2021 at 1:39 PM.
