Whatcom County waits for COVID-19 vaccine availability to catch up with its capacity
Up to 30,000 more Whatcom County residents can get the COVID-19 vaccine after Gov. Jay Inslee on Thursday, March 11, expanded eligibility to include grocery store and agricultural workers, pregnant women and firefighters.
Inslee’s expansion covers tier 2 of phase 1B, and will kick in Wednesday, March 17 — five days earlier than previously planned.
As a result, about 10% more of Whatcom County residents will become eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines.
That works out to an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 additional county residents, the Whatcom County Health Department said in an email to The Bellingham Herald.
Vaccine demand remains greater than supply, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s update on Thursday, March 11.
Federal allocations to the state are gradually increasing over the next three weeks but fall short of providers’ request by about 70,000 doses, according to the update:
▪ Week of March 14: 327,320 total doses (170,680 first doses, 156,640 second doses).
▪ Week of March 21: 334,340 doses (170,680 first, 163,660 second).
▪ Week of March 28: 341,360 doses (170,680 first doses, 170,680 second doses).
The state said it doesn’t expect to get more Johnson & Johnson vaccine for at least three weeks.
Whatcom’s vaccination capacity
For the week of March 8, the state allocated 2,370 first doses and 2,600 second doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Whatcom County providers.
The number of first doses includes 1,200 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which requires one dose to complete the series, according to a vaccine update from the Whatcom County Health Department.
Those numbers don’t include vaccine doses that the federal government sends directly to Native American tribes, long-term care facilities and pharmacies.
If there were enough vaccine, Whatcom providers could get shots into the arms of many more county residents, according to Erika Lautenbach, director of the Whatcom County Health Department.
Providers here are set up to deliver vaccine doses to about 9% of the county’s population per week once they have the doses, Lautenbach told The Bellingham Herald.
“We easily have capacity to run 20,000 vaccine doses per week, and we’re just waiting on the product,” Lautenbach told The Herald. “This is a short-term problem. It really is. It’s going to be a few more weeks. … Once people are vaccinated and more people are vaccinated this will be a thing of the past.
“But right now, the pressure valve is still tightly sealed, and we just need to release that pressure with more vaccine,” she said.
Of the estimated 20,000 doses, Lautenbach said the county’s mass vaccination site at Bellingham Technical College could administer approximately 5,000 per week, PeaceHealth could distribute roughly 6,000 and Family Care Network could give about 2,700.
“That’s just three of the 46 entities we have,” Lautenbach said.
For comparison, Whatcom County administered 49,794 total doses since vaccination efforts began Dec. 18 through Monday, March 8 — an average of about 4,303 doses a week.
— David Rasbach, drasbach@bhamherald.com
Vaccine town hall
The Whatcom County Health Department is hosting an online town hall on Thursday, March 18, to provide an update on vaccine distribution.
It will run 5:30-6:30 p.m., and will be live-streamed on Whatcom County government’s YouTube channel. Participants will include Family Care Network, PeaceHealth, Sea Mar Community Health Centers, and Unity Care NW.
People can submit a question online. The deadline to do so is noon Tuesday, March 16.
Whatcom vaccination update
Friday’s vaccination report said that as of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, March 10, Whatcom County had administered 42,607 vaccinations — an increase of 2,813 vaccinations (up 5.65%) from Wednesday’s report, which was for data through Monday, March 8. Statewide, the number of vaccine doses administered increased 5.96% from Wednesday’s report (127,540 doses administered).
An average of 1,354 Whatcom County residents per day received a vaccination dose from March 4-10, a drop from the 1,651 seven-day average on Wednesday. Vaccination data is released Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The state estimates that 19.72% of the county has received its first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 9.59% of the county is fully vaccinated. Whatcom remained ahead of the statewide average of 19.07% of residents receiving a first dose and behind the statewide average of 10.98% of residents being fully vaccinated.
The state did not update its county-by-county vaccinations table on Friday, nor did it release the number of people who have received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, as it previously stated it would begin doing on Wednesday.
Based on the percentages and using a population of 225,300 for Whatcom County, which is the total the state uses in COVID-related estimates, The Bellingham Herald estimates that 44,429 Whatcom residents have received their first dose — an increase of 2,320 people from The Herald’s estimate of 42,109 on Wednesday. The Herald estimates 21,606 Whatcom residents are fully vaccinated — an increase of 1,239 from The Herald’s estimate of 42,109 on Wednesday.
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, The Herald’s previous analysis of data has shown Whatcom County residents have had to travel to get vaccine doses at a higher rate than most of the rest of the state. Using Friday’s data, The Herald estimates that Whatcom residents have had to travel outside the county for 20.3% of the doses they have received — a decrease from the 21.1% estimated from Wednesday’s data.
According to an analysis of Friday’s data by The Herald, Whatcom residents have received approximately 2.91% of the 2,2,67,958 total vaccine doses given in the state — down from 2.92% in Wednesday’s report. And the county has administered 2.32% of the state’s total — down from 2.33% in Wednesday’s report.
For comparison, Whatcom County represents 3.0% of the state’s total population and is the state’s ninth-largest county, according to 2019 U.S. Census estimates.
Based on 2019 five-year population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, The Herald’s analysis of Friday’s data found Whatcom County has administered 0.24 doses of vaccine per resident. With residents traveling to get the vaccine, Whatcom County has received 0.30 doses of vaccine per resident. Both numbers are below the statewide average of 0.31 vaccine doses administered per resident.
— David Rasbach, drasbach@bhamherald.com
Who is eligible for vaccination
Washington state is allowing vaccinations by phases. Check yours online.
Eligible phase 1B, tier 2, starting March 17:
▪ Critical workers employed in certain congregate settings, including agriculture, food processing, fishing vessels, grocery stores, public transit, firefighters, law enforcement, and prisons and jails.
▪ Those who are 16 years and older who are pregnant or who have disabilities that put them at high risk.
Not included are restaurant workers. The state has yet to determine where they’ll fall in the queue.
Most of 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.
▪ Under President Biden’s direction, Washington state added educators and school staff as well as licensed child care workers to its phase 1B-1 group starting March 2.
The addition means that about 5,000 more Whatcom County residents can now be vaccinated.
The county has 4,829 people employed in preK-12 education fields and 161 child care workers, according to The Bellingham Herald’s analysis of Washington State Employment Security Department data.
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.
Where to get vaccinated
As of Friday, 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 continues to lag behind demand.
▪ 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 and Johnson & Johnson vaccine and will schedule appointments for its established patients in eligible tiers as supplies become available. It is not maintaining a waitlist.
Last week, it opened 150 appointments for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which it received as a transfer of 400 doses from the Whatcom County Health Department, which, in turn had received it from the state for the mass vaccination clinic.
Family Care Network likely will offer appointments for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week as well as for a “small number” of first doses of the Moderna vaccine it is expecting, spokesperson Michele Anderson said to The Bellingham Herald.
The health care provider has been frustrated by the small number of vaccine doses it has been receiving, even though it provides primary care to 90,000 patients in Whatcom and Skagit counties.
Family Care Network has talked to health care officials at the state and county level, and with a state representative’s office.
“We’ve received acknowledgment that Family Care Network is not receiving a proportionate amount of the allocation coming into Whatcom County,” Anderson said. “While we appreciate the conversations that have started to happen in the last several days, we are currently unaware of a plan or timeline for change.”
The health care provider has been stretching the supply it does have.
“We’ve actually administered about 10% more than supplied due to ‘extra doses’ that we’ve drawn from Moderna vials,” Anderson said. “Every dose counts, especially with such a limited supply.”
▪ PeaceHealth: Its St. Joseph hospital has cold-storage facilities that allow it to receive the Pfizer vaccine. It also receives the Moderna vaccine. It is offering vaccine appointments to community health care workers, PeaceHealth patients who have seen a primary care doctor or specialist within the last three years, patients of other area medical providers, school district employees, licensed child care workers, and people in underserved communities.
Last week, PeaceHealth announced that it was implementing a new automated call system to quicken vaccination. Eligible patients may receive a call with a recorded message (in English and Spanish) with instructions on how to schedule a vaccination appointment.
Such calls are legitimate, PeaceHealth said, adding that people should follow the prompts in the message.
The automated system will be used in addition to emails sent via the My PeaceHealth online portal and direct phone calls from PeaceHealth staff.
▪ Sea Mar: Has a first-come, first-served walk-in system, but check availability online first. As of an update at 7 a.m. Friday, Sea Mar had no Pfizer vaccine for its clinics in Bellingham and Everson, but it was available at a few of its other clinics elsewhere in the state.
▪ Unity Care NW: The health care provider said it will contact eligible patients to schedule vaccinations as it gets more doses.
“You may get a text or email from our partner Luma Health. This is a legitimate and safe way to secure your vaccine appointment,” Unity Care said on its website.
On Friday, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, announced that Unity Care NW was invited to join a federal vaccine program for health centers.
“As we all work together to get shots in arms and beat this virus, I’m proud to partner with President Biden to invite these community health centers to help get people across Washington state vaccinated faster,” Murray said in a release. “This program is critical to ensuring equitable vaccine distribution and that underserved communities aren’t left behind, and I’m glad that we can expand its reach in Washington state.”
▪ Department of Health map: It can be found on a website that lists some vaccine providers in Whatcom and other parts of the state. Because vaccine supply remains limited, the featured providers may not have the vaccine or may be fully booked.
The map is at covidvaccineWA.org, which also breaks out the information for the county in a list. The information is different between the two, so check both.
Only providers that want to be are listed. There also 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 Associates in Family Medicine and Sea Mar, the list for Whatcom County now includes Costco on Arctic Avenue; Ferndale Pharmacy on Alder Street; Fred Meyer on Lakeway Drive and West Bakerview Road; Haggen on Woburn Street; Mt. Shuksan Family Medicine and Dermatology on Cornwall Avenue; Safeway on Guide Meridian Road; Nooksack Valley Drug on East Main Street in Everson; and Walmart on Meridian Street.
▪ Federal pharmacy program: The federal government has started to send vaccines directly to retail pharmacies to 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.
Check for appointments at Albertsons in-store pharmacies at one website, mhealthappointments.com/covidappt.
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 has been launched by a coalition of Whatcom County health care providers and the health department based on vaccine supply. Appointments are required.
The first clinic was Saturday, March 13, in Building G at Bellingham Technical College, where 400 people received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
“What we’re doing here will save lives,” said Shanon Hardie, chief operation officer for Unity Care NW and co-chair of the Community Vaccination Center Steering Committee, during a media tour on Wednesday, March 10, of the center.
Also at the event was Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu.
“This is another step in the finality of COVID,” said Sidhu, who thanked BTC for offering a space for the vaccine clinic.
“This is just what we do. We step up when it’s necessary,” Walter Hudsick, BTC’s interim president, replied.
Ongoing vaccinations at the site depend on having available vaccine on hand.
Hardie said officials are committed to providing vaccines at the site on Saturdays through March with the possibility of adding more days in April if needed.
Learn more about the clinic, what to expect, and directions for driving or taking public transportation to BTC by going to whatcomcounty.us/covidvaccine and clicking on Community Vaccination Center on the right.
▪ Skagit County: The Health Department has set up a mass vaccination site at the fairgrounds in Mount Vernon but vaccinations depend on supply.
New appointments are announced each Saturday at 9 a.m. on skagitcounty.net/covidvaccine. Appointments may be added throughout the week depending on vaccine availability.
People who received their first dose elsewhere can’t get their second dose at the Skagit vaccination site.
▪ 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.
See what’s available at prepmod.doh.wa.gov.
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.
People also can follow @covidwashington for live alerts, as well as call or text their zip code to 425-292-1727 for three nearby clinics with availability, organizers said.
▪ Find a COVID shot WA, a private group on Facebook, has volunteers that help people find appointments if they post using #searching. It has nearly 43,000 members.
The group also focuses on obtaining vaccine appointments for those most affected by COVID-19 — people with disabilities, those who are 65 years and older, people with limited English, those who are Black, Indigenous and people of color, school employees teaching in-person. 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 #. Language assistance is available.
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.
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.
▪ Johnson & Johnson: Approved by the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup Wednesday. Requires only one dose; authorized for people 18 years and older; 66.9% effective.
The CDC provides more information about the vaccines.
