BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Coronavirus vaccines have been slow to arrive in Whatcom County as they have elsewhere.
Amy Hockenberry leads vaccine planning for the county Health Department and told a news conference yesterday that just 5900 doses have arrived here so far — roughly 37% of the estimated number of doses the county needs to vaccinate tier 1A, not including those in long-term care.
Those in Tier-1 include health care workers with direct patient contact, paramedics and EMTs and residents of long-term care facilities.
The health department asks that you contact your employer or health care provider to help determine your eligibility for a vaccine.
Health Department Director Erika Lautenbach says they’re seeing about 500 people per day at the Lynden testing site, and positives are going up, with the positivity rate more than doubling from 3% to 7%.
They urge everyone to continue preventive measures to limit continued spread of the virus.
Meanwhile, state health officials have laid out next steps for vaccine distribution.
Those over 70 years old and anyone over 50 who lives in a multigenerational household will be the next priorities for COVID-19 vaccines in Washington.
The state remains in the first phase of vaccine distribution, with high-risk health-care workers, first responders and residents of long-term care facilities first in line.
But the DOH says that the state should be able to move to the next phase within two or three weeks.