COVID vaccine drive-thru opens Monday at Tri-Cities fairgrounds. See if you are eligible
Organizers of the mass COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the Benton County Fairgrounds in Kennewick have some reminders for those planning to show up on opening day Monday, Jan. 25.
They must meet eligibility requirements for the vaccine, which is being given to limited groups of people as vaccine production ramps up.
Go to FindYourPhaseWA.org to get a certificate showing you are eligible for a vaccine now and print it off or take a photo to bring with you.
Those without access to the internet should call 800-525-0127 during business hours. The incorrect number was printed in the Sunday Tri-City Herald.
An operator will help them determine whether they are eligible.
Those now eligible are people 65 and older; certain people 50 and older who live in multigenerational homes; health care workers; emergency medical technicians; and residents and employees of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities for the elderly.
The fairgrounds clinic is planned to open at 1 p.m. Jan 25, pending the arrival of the vaccine.
“We have been allocated a limited amount of vaccine,” the Benton Franklin Health District posted on Facebook. “When it is gone, it is gone, and we must wait for our next allotment of vaccine.”
No time for opening the fairground gates has been announced and Kennewick police will be on hand to keep traffic flowing. The entrance to the fairgrounds parking lot was blocked off during the weekend.
A large number of people are expected not only from the Tri-Cities area, but from throughout the Mid-Columbia region.
Participants should be prepared to be vaccinated as they sit in their vehicle.
That means no oversize vehicles with windows too high for a vaccine to be administered. Participants should wear clothes with sleeves that making the arm easy to access.
Preregistration is not available for the first week of the clinic, but participants are asked to download, complete and bring a form posted at bit.ly/BCFGPreregistrationForm.
You will be asked for personally identifiable information, such as your name, address, date of birth and ethnicity. This is required for government tracking of who is getting the vaccine.
The clinic is opening with cooperation from the Washington state Department of Health, the Washington National Guard, the Benton Franklin Health District and the Southeast Washington Incident Management Team.
Their employees were working through the weekend to get the clinic up and running on Monday.
“Please be kind and patient with those who are staffing and volunteering at the site,” the local health district posted on social media. “We are all in this together.”
This story was originally published January 24, 2021 at 11:26 AM.