Local physician Dave Cundiff promotes vaccinations after getting the shot himself.

OLYMPIA — Washingtonians were met with welcome news to start the week, as Gov. Jay Inslee announced Monday that the state is moving into its next phase of vaccine distribution, effective immediately.

The announcement means that all people in Tier B1 — those who are 65 and older, or are 50 and older and living in a multi-generational household — are now eligible to receive the covid-19 vaccine. In Pacific County, this tier alone accounts for about one-third of the total population.

According to 2019 estimations from the U.S. Census Bureau, 30.2% of all Pacific County residents are 65 and older, one of the highest over-65 populations among the state’s 39 counties. That translates to roughly 7,000 people in the county.

Calculating the population of those 50 and older and living in a multi-generational household is a harder task, according to county health director Katie Lindstrom. The group is not expected to consist of a large segment of the population, she estimated.

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‘The entire thing is based on vaccine supply. I’m really hopeful that the big areas don’t suck all those vaccine doses up.’

Katie Lindstrom

Pacific County health director

While the wording released by the state Health Department makes it seem like anyone 50 and older and living with a child is eligible in this phase, the fine print says otherwise. In a more detailed summary of the state’s vaccine phases, eligible individuals in this group consist of: older adults or elders who cannot live independently and are being cared for by a relative or in-home caregiver; and older adults who are living and taking care of kinship (such as grandparents taking care of grandchildren). It does not include older adults who are able to live independently and are taking care of their children.

Inslee’s announcement of the new vaccine phase also came with a plan to speed up vaccination in the state. According to vaccine data tracked by Bloomberg News, just 243,000 total doses have been administered in Washington as of Jan. 18 — or 3.2 doses per 100 people. Washington’s rate is well behind that of Oregon, which has administered 5.1 doses per 100 people.

Inslee unveiled on Monday the Washington State Vaccine Command and Coordination Center, which will be staffed by state Department of Health employees in partnership with business and labor leaders in the state. The intent of the vaccine center is to construct infrastructure and coordinate resources that will deliver vaccines across the state in an efficient manner.

Stakeholders in the initiative include businesses such as Kaiser Permanente, Starbucks, Microsoft and Costco, labor unions like SEIU Healthcare 1199NW, UFCW 21 and the Washington State Nurses Association, as well as the Washington National Guard and SeaMar Community Health Centers. Each stakeholder will have a different set of responsibilities, with the ultimate goal of boosting the state’s vaccination capacity to 45,000 doses daily.

“We are removing as many impediments as possible to Washingtonians getting vaccinated, we are going to deliver every dose that comes into our state,” Inslee said. “We will still be dependent on the federal government for doses, but we are doing everything we can once it gets here.”

Ready and raring to go

With the new vaccine phase beginning immediately, Lindstrom said that the county is ready and capable of vaccinating hundreds of people a day on both ends of the county.

Starting next week, the county health department is planning to stand up four mass vaccination clinics each week: two in south county, and two in north county. With about 600 people in Pacific County already receiving the vaccine as part of the initial phase, one of the two weekly vaccine clinics on both ends of the county will be for those needing to receive their second dose. The other vaccine clinic will be for those who are receiving the first of their two doses.

The south county vaccine clinics will be held at the South County Annex Building on Sandridge Road in Long Beach and will be conducted by Ocean Beach Hospital, with support from the county. Other local vaccine providers will also be able to hold their own clinics with their established patients, if and when they receive doses.

These larger clinics, Lindstrom said, may be capable of vaccinating up to 500 people in a single day. But the most uncertain, and the most crucial, piece of the puzzle is whether the county will receive a steady enough stream of vaccine doses to inoculate as many people as it can.

Each week, vaccine providers — such as the county health department, as well as hospitals and pharmacies — submit a request to the state for how many doses it needs for the following week. With manufacturing still ramping up and the state relying on the federal government for its supply, there is no guarantee, Lindstrom said, that the state will be able to fully satisfy their requests each week.

“The entire thing is based on vaccine supply. I’m really hopeful that the big areas don’t suck all those vaccine doses up,” Lindstrom said.

With so much uncertainty about how many doses will be allotted to the county in any given week, Lindstrom said the department is being careful about not scheduling appointments for vaccine clinics too far in advance.

“We can put these [appointments] on the books and schedule these out for months, if we knew for sure that we were going to get the vaccine,” Lindstrom said. “But it creates a big headache if then we have to call everyone back and say ‘Oh, sorry, your appointment was going to be today, but now it’s canceled because we didn’t get the vaccine.’”

For those who are eligible to be vaccinated in Tier B1, appointments can be scheduled by calling the Pacific County Emergency Operations Center at 360-642-9407 or 360-875-9407, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The call center went live on Tuesday afternoon, and the health department said the large volume of calls were “overwhelming” the county’s phone system. The department said it’s trying to answer calls as quickly as possible, and urged callers to continue trying if they are unable to initially get through.

County adds more than 30 new cases

The Pacific County Health and Human Services Department reported 33 new cases of covid-19 over the past week, bringing the county’s total count to 649 cases.

As of Jan. 15, the most recent update from the department, the county’s case rate per 100,000 people stood at 240, double what it was a week ago. More than 30 cases are active, and are spread throughout Pacific County.

According to weekly zip code data disclosed by the department on Jan. 13, the share of new cases in south county is on the rise. Six new cases were reported of people listing a Long Beach address as their permanent residence, bringing the total count to 59 cases. At least five new cases were recently attributed to Chinook, whose case count increased to 10. Raymond and South Bend were attributed a combined eight new cases over the previous week, bringing their totals to 285 and 147, respectively.

Wahkiakum County’s total case count increased by nine over the past week, bringing its total to 71 cases. Clatsop County reported 58 new cases as of Jan. 19, increasing its total to 695 cases. Statewide confirmed covid-19 cases totaled 277,404 on Jan. 17, with 16,558 patients hospitalized and 3,903 fatalities reported since the pandemic began.