No COVID vaccine yet? It’s finally ‘free, super fast’ at these Whatcom County clinics
Many appointments remain open at this weekend’s COVID-19 community vaccination clinics at Bellingham Technical College — a first for Whatcom County residents who have had to scramble to sign up for slots that often filled within minutes.
The clinics are offering 1,680 first doses of the Moderna vaccine as well as second doses.
“If you’re 18 or older, now’s your chance to get vaccinated! It’s free and super fast!” the Whatcom County Health Department posted on its Facebook page.
The department made it even easier by posting direct links to the PrepMod signup online for the clinics on Saturday and Sunday.
▪ Saturday afternoon, April 24, at https://bit.ly/3v8r4Qx.
▪ Sunday morning, April 25, at https://bit.ly/3v3khYg.
▪ Sunday afternoon at https://bit.ly/3sEiYNV.
People who don’t have internet access, an email address, or who need language interpretation can call 360-778-6075 for help booking an appointment.
About 39.8% of Whatcom County residents, or 90,886 people, have initiated a COVID-19 vaccine and 26.9%, or 61,472 residents, are fully vaccinated as of Monday, April 19, according to the state Department of Health’s latest report.
The Whatcom County Health Department has estimated that a total of 186,000 county residents are now eligible for vaccination.
That leaves a lot of Whatcom residents left to vaccinate against the respiratory illness.
So what’s going on?
“We don’t think we’ve hit a plateau for demand. Nationally and statewide, surveys show that the majority of people — up to 70% of people over 18 — want to get vaccinated, and we’re nowhere near that number yet,” Cindy Hollinsworth, the communicable disease and epidemiology manager for Whatcom County, told The Bellingham Herald.
Hollinsworth said the situation isn’t specific to Whatcom County, and it could be a good sign.
“We can’t say definitively why appointments are filling more slowly now. This same issue is happening across most of the state,” she said. “We didn’t expect it to happen so soon, but it’s possible that we’ve already hit that point where vaccine supply has opened up so much that early, eager adopters have already gotten their shots.”
The message that everyone age 16 and older in Washington state is eligible to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as of April 15 may not have reached everyone, Hollinsworth speculated.
(The Moderna vaccine has so far been authorized only for those 18 and older. The Pfizer vaccine is the only one, so far, that has been cleared for use in those as young as 16.)
“Eligibility became widespread at a much faster pace than anyone originally expected,” Hollinsworth said.
“That’s great news, but also means that people who thought they might not be able to get vaccinated for months are now eligible and either aren’t aware they can get vaccinated, haven’t had time to sift through all the information about where and why to get vaccinated, or face barriers due to technology or other reasons,” she added.
Whatcom County residents also may not yet realize that more vaccine doses are becoming available.
“We’ve been saying for months that supply is limited, because it was, but it’s increasing reliably now, and that message may just not have caught up for people yet,” Hollinsworth said. “As they have throughout this whole pandemic, things change so quickly, and now is the time for people to know that there are appointments out there, and it’s time to make one.”
The COVID-19 vaccination clinics run 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in the Community Vaccination Center at Bellingham Technical College, 3028 Lindbergh Ave. in building G.
Appointments are required.
Learn more at VaccinateWhatcom.org.
