Washington state’s timeline for vaccination phases, released last week, sparked an influx of phone calls to Lewis County Public Health and Social Services, with residents in the 1B phase assuming they could be vaccinated.
But that’s not the case, Public Health Director J.P. Anderson said Monday, as the county likely won’t reach that phase until the end of the month, although it’s “definitely a moving target.”
“When the state put out its guidance, it suggested almost that we were already in 1B, which was problematic,” Anderson said. “I knew as soon as I saw it … that our phones were going to be ringing a lot, because it looked like it was available now.”
So far, several facilities in Lewis County have received doses, along with pharmacy chains already vaccinating long-term care facilities. But as of this week, the county can’t say how many people in the 1A category — health care workers, first responders and long-term care residents — have been vaccinated locally. They’re still waiting on the state to give them that data.
Public health officials are also still waiting for the state to approve applications of more facilities who want to receive the vaccine.
“That process is taking longer than everyone had hoped,” Public Health Deputy Director John Abplanalp said. “We did hear, though, just recently that the state Department of Health had significantly increased the staffing on that particular program … so they’re expecting to work through the backlog of applications within the next week or two.”
And because it’s unclear when the county will reach the 1B phase, the first sub-tier of which includes people older than 70 and people older than 50 that live in multigenerational households, officials aren’t yet compiling a list of residents who qualify. The fear is that it could create a “phone tag” situation where qualified residents would have to be contacted each time the date or plans change.
The limiting factor, according to public health officials, is still simply the amount of vaccines rolling in.
“I don’t think anyone is getting 100 percent of what they ordered,” Abplanalp said of providers receiving vials of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
Delays have occurred statewide, with some critiquing the slow rollout of vaccines.
“It’s frustrating we don’t have more available now. Obviously, that’s a similar situation every community’s in,” Anderson said. “But we’re hoping that we’re in a spot that when the flow does increase and more doses come in, that we’re able to make that available to everyone in Lewis County.”
At the moment, the limited quantity of doses coming in means that each dose is already matched with a qualified resident. It’s partially thanks to Bird’s Eye Medical, a company contracted to play matchmaker between health care workers and vaccine providers. The company is making calls in an attempt to make sure each eligible resident in the first dispersal phase can get a vaccine.
When more doses get to the county, officials and providers have room to get creative. There are talks, for example, of opening drive-thru vaccination sites, or using the county’s senior centers as vaccination hubs. Although the state laid out who is eligible in each priority group, the county will have to fill in the blanks for some groups of people not specifically identified, and distribution in later phases will largely depend on the honor system.
“There’s not the resources to police the exquisite details of each of the sub-tiers of allocation,” Health Officer Dr. Rachel Wood said.
Anderson added that with so much energy going toward distribution, “it’s hard to reserve too much energy from stopping people from getting it.”
Wood will likely offer guidance on who to prioritize in the next phase. One group in a “gray area,” officials say, includes those working for Lewis County Seniors, who deliver meals to those most vulnerable to COVID-19.
Lewis County Seniors President Ron Averill said vaccinating those individuals is vital, noting that the nonprofit had a scare last month when a volunteer who had been delivering meals to seniors tested positive for COVID-19. Fortunately, the virus did not spread further within the organization.
“It just demonstrates that in this particular case, had we had two or three (people) test positive, we might have had to close down our meal preparation,” Averill said. “That would’ve been a disaster for the population we serve.”
