COVID vaccine expected to arrive soon in Tri-Cities. Hospitals are ready

Some Tri-Cities hospital workers might receive the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as late this week or early next week.

The first of the state’s allocation of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine arrived in the state Monday, the Washington state Department of Health said. Some of the vaccine also was distributed on Monday to a few hospitals, at least on the west side of the state.

The state planned to distribute the 62,400 doses of vaccine it expects to receive this week to 13 of the state’s 39 counties. They include Benton County, where 1,950 of the initial doses will be shipped to one or more undisclosed locations. Grant, Spokane and Yakima County also will receive doses.

The Washington state plan is to initially vaccinate health care workers in contact with COVID or suspected COVID patients, which could include hospital and certain clinic workers, paramedics and other emergency medical technicians, and COVID test site workers. Nursing home and assisted living home residents also are considered a high priority.

In the Tri-Cities, one or more hospitals could receive the first doses sent to the area.

However, hospitals have been cautioned by the state Department of Health to release limited details due to safety and security concerns.

Kadlec said it is not releasing information on the dates and locations of deliveries.

Hospitals prepare

Both Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland and Trios Health in Kennewick have ultracold freezers required to store the Pfizer vaccine, with information about Lourdes Health in Pasco not immediately available.

However, Trios and Lourdes are both owned by LifePoint Health and work together closely.

“We’re ready,” said John Solheim, chief executive officer for Trios, in a Tri-City Development Council webcast on Friday.

It has been educating employees about the vaccine. Although Trios is not mandating employee vaccination, it is encouraging staff to be immunized against COVID-19, he said.

Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland, the Tri-Cities largest hospital, is expected to initially receive enough vaccine for half its staff, and is identifying those who are at highest risk for exposure to the vaccine, said Reza Kaleel, Kadlec chief executive officer.

Kadlec has about 3,700 employees.

The hospital plans a vaccination schedule that will space out vaccinations to staff in individual departments, rather than vaccinating similar groups of employees on the same day, Kaleel said in the TRIDEC webcast.

Although the vaccine is safe, the hospital is concerned that some staff could experience side effects, such as spiking a fever or achy joints, that could cause some to need a day off.

This is the busiest time of the year for local hospitals and COVID admissions have risen sharply in recent months at a time when some staff cannot work because they are quarantining at home due to possible exposure in the community to the coronavirus.

Nursing homes, EMTs

Nursing homes will make their own arrangements with pharmacies for vaccinations.

In Washington state, CVS and Walgreens are expected to be the pharmacies receiving the vaccine, but no information on when they could receive the first doses was immediately available.

The Benton Franklin Health District is advising other entities, such as fire departments with paramedics eligible for some of the first doses, to work with their occupational health provider to arrange for vaccines.

The Pfizer COVID vaccine, the only one approved for use so far in the United States, ships in dry ice packages with 975 doses each that must be maintained at about minus 94 degrees.

But the Moderna COVID vaccine, which could also be available soon, does not require ultracold temperatures, making it easier to distribute.

The federal government expects to review it for safety and effectiveness on Thursday, Dec. 17.

“We believe that if everything goes according to plan, we’ll have most people in Washington vaccinated by mid-summer,” says Michele Roberts, one of the leaders of the state’s COVID-19 vaccine planning group.

“The rapid development of these vaccines, with such a high rate of efficacy, is a historic achievement, and will help us defeat COVID-19,” she said.

The Pfizer vaccine will be given in two doses, with the second dose 21 days after the first dose.

Clinical trial data show the vaccine is 95% effective at preventing COVID-19 infection starting 7 days after the second dose, according to the state Department of Health. Individuals will not be considered fully protected until 1 to 2 weeks after they receive the second dose.

Washington state plan

“This vaccine is a sign of hope that the pandemic is something we can overcome,” said state Secretary of Health John Wiesman. “We still have a long way to go to beat COVID-19, but this is the tool that will start saving lives immediately.”

The state’s plan is to make the vaccine available to an estimated 500,000 people at highest risk first, such as health care workers at hospitals, those responding to emergencies in the communities and nursing home staff.

The federal government has told the state of Washington that it could receive 222,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine by the end of December. Regular weekly shipments of the vaccine should begin in January.

The state is looking to guidance that will come from the Centers for Disease Control on which people will be vaccinated after the first high-risk group.

This story was originally published December 14, 2020 at 2:50 PM.