Inslee, health officials laud Clark County vaccine site while eager for resupplies

By Troy Brynelson (OPB)
Jan. 28, 2021 9:19 p.m.

The availability of doses is a question mark for the fairgrounds mass vaccine site itself.

Washington state leaders cruised to the mass vaccination site at the Clark County Fairgrounds on Thursday to laud its inoculation pace.

Still, the unpredictability of vaccine supplies has created uncertainty about how the fairgrounds site will function in the future, officials said.

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Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and state health secretary Dr. Umair Shah visited the grounds, which opened Tuesday and has vaccinated more than 700 people each day since. It’s one of four in the state opened this week, with others in Tri-Cities, Wenatchee and Spokane.

Nancy and Ira Wikstrom were first in line for doses of a COVID-19 vaccine at a new site in Ridgefield, Washington on Jan. 26, 2021. The site opened to deliver more than 700 vaccines per day.

Nancy and Ira Wikstrom were first in line for doses of a COVID-19 vaccine at a new site in Ridgefield, Washington on Jan. 26, 2021. The site opened to deliver more than 700 vaccines per day.

Troy Brynelson / OPB

The state leaders heaped praise on the National Guard soldiers who helped direct hundreds of cars through the fairgrounds barn, where a trained staffer then plunges the vaccine into a person’s arm. A new car comes and goes within five minutes, Inslee noted.

“And they’re getting better every day,” the governor said. “I think it should encourage us the progress we’ve made in the state of Washington in the last week.”

Washington state is vaccinating nearly 40,000 people per day, he said. The National Guard also set up a mobile clinic on Wednesday to vaccinate 500 people in a retirement community in Lacey, Washington.

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The progress so far comes as states are poised to receive a bump in supplies from the federal government. On Tuesday, Inslee announced President Joe Biden planned to increase supplies by 16% over the next three weeks.

While he called vaccines “the salvation,” he and Shah stayed on a sobering message that many more vaccines are needed. Washington state has a population of 7.65 million. More than 1.5 million residents are eligible for the vaccine under current state guidelines, while appointments book up fast and supplies are quickly exhausted.

“As the governor mentioned, we cannot vaccinate 7 million people in this barn today,” Shah said.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, left, and health secretary Dr. Umair Shah talk at a mass vaccination site in Ridgefield, Washington on Jan. 28, 2021. The site is one of four the state put together this week to quickly deliver COVID-19 vaccines

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, left, and health secretary Dr. Umair Shah talk at a mass vaccination site in Ridgefield, Washington on Jan. 28, 2021. The site is one of four the state put together this week to quickly deliver COVID-19 vaccines

Troy Brynelson / OPB

The availability of doses is a question mark for the fairgrounds mass vaccine site itself. Neither Inslee nor Shah mentioned the future of the fairgrounds and what role those sites will play in the coming months.

About 3,000 doses are delivered at the fairgrounds every week, and officials said they plan to ensure everyone who gets a first dose at the site will also get a second. But the plan gets cloudier five weeks from now, said Rebecca Baron, of the state Department of Health.

“Our hope is that we’ll be able to continue this as long as possible, but those are decisions beyond,” she said.

Separately, Clark County has received about 38,000 vaccine doses in the last six weeks, public health officials said Wednesday. Those doses are largely administered by health care providers, such as PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center and Legacy Salmon Creek.

About 18,000 doses have been administered as of Saturday, according to Dr. Alan Melnick, the Clark County Public Health Officer. About 3,200 people have received second doses and are now considered “fully vaccinated,” he said.

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