Whatcom vaccination slots going unused while COVID-related hospitalizations on the rise
Despite rising COVID-19 case numbers and greatly increased coronavirus-related hospitalizations signaling Whatcom County is entering its fourth surge of the pandemic, nearly a third of available vaccination slots in Whatcom County are going unused.
PeaceHealth has had enough primary (first) doses of the Pfizer vaccines at its clinic the past two weeks to vaccinate nearly 30% more people than it actually did, spokesperson Bev Mayhew told The Bellingham Herald in an email.
The Bellingham Technical College’s community vaccine clinic is seeing similar results, BTC spokesperson Marni Mayer told The Herald in an email.
“We are seeing a decrease in number of people signing up to their COVID vaccine,” Dr. Sudhakar Karlapudi, chief medical officer at St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham told The Herald. “Initially, a few weeks ago, we had a lot of community members wanting to get the vaccine. Then we didn’t have enough vaccine. Now open slots and we have vaccine and we’re seeing a decrease in the number of people coming to get their vaccines.
“I’ve also heard of a few stories of people who have gotten their first dose but have not gotten their second dose. I think it’s important for people to start their vaccination series and also for them to start their vaccination series.”
Earlier this week, the Whatcom County Health Department estimated the area is seeing approximately 8% to 9% of residents receive a primary dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines are not completing their vaccination series with a second dose — pretty well mirroring national averages.
The shrinking numbers of people seeking vaccination have already prompted Whatcom County providers to request fewer doses.
Whatcom County providers received a total of 12,490 primary doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine last week (the week of April 23), according to the Whatcom County Health Department’s Vaccine update.
This week (the week of May 2), Whatcom providers are expecting less than a third of that total, with 3,940 primary and J&J doses expected, according to the report. An additional 3,040 second Pfizer and Moderna doses are expecting.
PeaceHealth said it reduced its number of primary Pfizer doses it expects to distribute this week by 1,250.
“We don’t want to order too much vaccine,” Karlapudi said. “We’re always trying to find a balance between supply and demand. There is no vaccination wastage — absolutely that is not happening. So we are estimating. We are still requesting and we’re starting to see people not signing up.
“Essentially because it’s a finite product, and as we see less people getting it, we order less and less. If we have a lot of demand, we can order as much as the community needs.”
Hospitalization surge
Despite what the empty vaccination slots show, Whatcom County needs more people to get vaccinated as quickly as possible, Karlapudi says.
All he and other health officials need to do is look at the rise in COVID-related hospitalization rates. On Tuesday, the Washington State Department of Health reported 18 new COVID-related hospitalizations in Whatcom County — the largest increase the county has seen during the pandemic since hospitalizations began being reported June 3.
Fifty people in Whatcom — an average of 2.4 per day — have been hospitalized with complications from COVID-19 between April 12 and May 3, and the county wouldn’t currently pass the state’s metric for weekly hospitalizations per 100,00 residents to remain in Phase 3 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s Healthy Washington — Roadmap to Recovery plan.
On Tuesday, May 4, St. Joseph hospital reported its highest number of COVID patients (28) since it had 31 on Jan. 29.
The solution to the rising tide of hospitalizations is simple, Karlapudi said.
“I would say the most pressing issue today is to get vaccinated,” Karlapudi told The Herald. “This is preventable. Right now, if we get vaccinated, we can prevent another surge. We already in the fourth surge, and we need to get vaccinated right now.”
Proof that the vaccine is working, Karlapudi said, is in the numbers of those who are currently hospitalized — as of Monday, none of the 27 COVID-related patients had received the vaccine.
More specifically, he said, the hospital is seeing an increase in hospitalizations among younger patients — many of whom had to wait their turn to become eligible for vaccination until last month — than what was seen earlier in the pandemic.
“Early in the pandemic, the people who were getting affected were in the very late 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s and they had other medical problems,” Karlapudi said. “They were the people that were getting infected and seriously ill. Many of them also died.
“This time around, what we are seeing is the age group has shifted. A large group of people are in the 40s and 50s and 60s. We do have a few people in their 80s and 90s, but the age demographic has definitely switched. The youngest person I have in the hospital is in their early 20s.
“It is staggering and scary — scary is an appropriate word I think — and it’s preventable.”
Since March 21, 60% of the 45 COVID-related hospitalizations (27) in Whatcom County have been for people under the age of 65, according to The Herald’s analysis of data published on the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID dashboard. In the year-plus of the pandemic before March 21, hospitalizations were almost evenly divided between people under the age of 65 (164 hospitalizations) and those 65 and older (162 hospitalizations).
“The wave of hospitalization is way high. The peak is way too high for hospitalizations,” Karlapudi said. “We have been talking for months now that we could have the British variant and this just shows that it’s here and having an impact. I just say we all need to get vaccinated. The vaccination has shown to be effective against those variants as well.”
According to the state dashboard Friday, 55.55% of all eligible Whatcom County residents (those 16 and older) have initiated a COVID vaccine and 40.82% have completed vaccination.
“The point to take home for the community, vaccines are safe, they prevent deadly manifestations of COVID, absolutely,” Karlapudi said. “I would recommend anyone who does not have a contrary reason to get vaccinated to get the vaccine. We can still slow down the spread of the severe disease by taking those doses.”
This story was originally published May 9, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
