Here’s how many Whatcom County seniors have gotten an additional COVID vaccination dose
Approximately one third of all Whatcom County residents 65 and older have received an additional vaccine dose against COVID-19, according to the Whatcom County Health Department.
As of Nov. 6, all Whatcom County residents had received an additional 22,790 doses, the health department told The Bellingham Herald on Friday, Nov. 12.
An additional dose, according to the Washington State Department of Health, is defined as any dose received after Aug. 13 that is in addition to the completion of initial vaccination series — two doses for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and one of the Johnson & Johnson. Additional doses include both third doses given to immunocompromised residents and booster doses.
Of the 22,790 additional doses administered in Whatcom County, 14,529 have been in residents 65 and older, the county health department reported Friday, which is approximately 32% of the county’s population that is 65 and older.
Additional doses are not included in the vaccination totals reported by the state or county, health department spokesperson Scarlet Tang told The Herald.
As of Nov. 6, the Department of Health’s COVID-19 Dashboard reported that 284,545 vaccine doses had been administered to Whatcom County residents and that 67.3% of the county’s total population (153,396 residents) had initiated vaccination and 62.2% (141,636 residents) had completed it.
The state also shows that Whatcom County’s vaccination rates in recent weeks have more than doubled since September. As of Nov. 4, Whatcom County’s weekly average of doses administered was 840 doses per day, which was up from weekly rates of between 300 and 400 doses per day during the second half of September.
The CDC and Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup recommend booster doses for:
▪ People 18 years and older who received the Johnson & Johnson (single dose) vaccine at least two months earlier.
▪ People 65 and older who received their second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine at least six months earlier.
▪ People 18 years and older that live in a long-term care facility and received their second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine at least six months earlier.
▪ People between 50 and 64 years old with underlying medical conditions or who are at increased risk of social inequities and received their second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine at least six months earlier.
The CDC and workgroup also said that people may consider getting a booster dose six months after completing a Pfizer or Moderna primary series if they are between 18 and 49 and at high risk for severe COVID-19 due to underlying medical conditions or increased risk of social inequities or if they are 18 and older and are at increased risk for COVID exposure and transmission due to occupational or institutional setting.
The health department does not have the number of pediatric vaccine doses that have been administered in the county, but it expects to receive that information from the state next week, Tang wrote.
