460-mile roundtrip ‘for nothing.’ Vaccine ran out before Everett man’s Tri-Cities appointment

Like most Americans affected by the coronavirus pandemic over the past year, Andy Rice is more than ready to get back to normal life.

The Everett man has been doing his information technology job from home since last summer.

So when the Washington state Department of Health introduced its Phase Finder tool to help residents find out when they’re eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, Rice immediately got on the site and answered the questions.

Then he sat back and waited for his phase to be called.

“I’ve been anxious for the vaccine ever since the virus started,” he told the Tri-City Herald.

Rice, 54, now meets the state’s current eligibility requirements for people over 50 in multigenerational households.

He has a son who has been working outside their home and a daughter with a job in the educational system, who soon will be returning to work in person. And his wife has a compromised immune system after several major surgeries this year.

He started watching websites for appointments after Gov. Jay Inslee loosened the eligibility mandate, but nothing was available in Snohomish, King or Skagit counties.

8-hour roundtrip

Rice decided to look on the other side of the mountains, and Monday morning he scored a 3:20 p.m. appointment at the Benton County Fairgrounds in Kennewick.

At the time he booked it, Rice had five hours to make the 4-hour trip. He hopped in his car without considering the road conditions on Snoqualmie Pass, and arrived in the Tri-Cities with an hour to spare.

But Rice’s luck ended there.

The mass vaccination site was blocked off, so he stopped and showed police his appointment paperwork. He was told he was in the right place, but there were no injections left for the day.

Rice said they must be wrong because he had a scheduled time. He said they replied that Monday’s vaccines were given out first-come, first-served — and not by appointment — and that he should return Tuesday morning and get in line with everyone else.

He drove down the road, found a parking spot and called the Benton Franklin Health District.

‘Crazy situation’

Rice said he was furious when he spoke with a “very nice” woman who knew how to calm him down. She explained the local health district had not been notified by the state that the appointment system was starting that day, he said.

So, after the district had spread the message that it would be first-come, first-served, the daily allocated doses went quickly because more than 300 vehicles lined up Monday morning.

Rice said he was told the district had received several calls similar to his, and initially thought there may have been an appointment scam on the internet.

“I understood that everybody is trying their best, and it’s a crazy situation so I couldn’t get too mad. I was more mad at myself for trying to game the system,” he said. “I think that they’re distributing the vaccines based a little bit on population, so I should probably stay in my county or close by to where I live.”

Rice decided to head back home. He did not bring a change of clothes or his work laptop with him since he’d only planned to be in the Tri-Cities long enough for the vaccine appointment.

Two days later, he wrote an email to the state Department of Health, the Benton Franklin Health District, Benton County administration and the Tri-City Herald with the subject line, “Appointment Not Honored.”

He talked about his 460-mile roundtrip “for nothing” and wanted to know “who dropped the ball.”

“If you are wondering why I made an appointment so far away, it is because it was the only appointment I could find,” Rice wrote.

Rice said he then was surprised to get a call later that same night from the health district administrator, who he described as gracious and apologetic about the confusion.

4 mass vaccine sites

Kennewick is one of four large-scale vaccination operations across the state. The others are in Spokane, Wenatchee and Ridgefield.

The state health department has said that the mass vaccination clinics are limited only to people who live or work in Washington state. However, there are no restrictions on people staying within their region when seeking appointments.

Rice later told the Herald that he couldn’t believe the local district and incident team had not been notified in advance by state health officials.

Benton County officials shared his frustration at the consistent last-minute communication from state leaders, from being selected as a mass vaccination site to the decision to switch to preregistration required.

Rice didn’t give up despite Monday’s debacle in Tri-Cities.

He now has an appointment Feb. 11 at a site just 55 miles from Everett, and got a morning time slot just in case there is another last-minute change in direction.

“I feel like once I’ve got the two doses, and like another week has gone by, that I am safe and I can start getting back to a normal life,” said Rice. “And the more people that do that, the faster we’ll all get back to normal lives.”

“It’s been nice to be home for a while, but after a while it’s just gone stir crazy,” he added.

To make an appointment at one of the mass clinics, go to prepmod.doh.wa.gov/clinic/search and scroll down the page to find appointment dates for the Tri-Cities fairground and how many remaining appointments may be available on each date.

People having troubles or with no internet access can call 800-525-0127, but should expect long wait times.

Additionally, clinics, pharmacies and health care providers are offering the vaccine. More information on other sites that are open to the public can be found on the DOH vaccine locations page.

This story was originally published January 30, 2021 at 1:09 PM.