COVID vaccine goes unused at Tri-Cities fairgrounds this week
The Tri-Cities mass vaccination clinic is having trouble giving away free doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The drive-thru mass vaccination clinic at the Kennewick fairgrounds put less than half the COVID vaccine it had available into arms Tuesday.
The fairgrounds had the capacity to give the vaccine to 1,500 people on Tuesday, but gave only 653 shots.
More than 4,000 appointments remained open for the rest of the week as of noon Wednesday.
Wednesday also was off to a slow start, said Evelyn Lusignan, spokeswoman for the Southeast Washington Interagency Incident Management Team, which operates the drive-thru clinic.
Organizers are doing what they can to make getting a free vaccine as convenient as possible as demand for it drops, less than two weeks before all Washington residents 16 and older became eligible for the vaccine.
People are welcome to come down to the Benton County Fairgrounds to sign up for the vaccine and receive it immediately, Lusignan said.
It is a policy that health officials had wavered on as recently as last week, but now think is needed to get more people to come to the drive-thru clinic.
Organizers still prefer appointments to make it easier to plan staffing and have the correct number of doses prepared, but are not requiring them.
Those who do make an appointment can come to the fairgrounds anytime that is convenient the day of their appointment to get their dose, Lusignan said.
The appointments serve as a reservation for a dose that day and people with appointments are welcome to come early or late and the dose will be held for them.
This week the drive-thru clinic was giving Pfizer COVID vaccine, which requires a second “booster” dose three weeks later to be fully effective.
Next week it will also offer 500 doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine, which requires only a single injection.
People being vaccinated on Tuesday were spending as little as 20 minutes at the fairgrounds at South Oak and East 10th Avenue. That included a 15 minute waiting period after the injection to check for any rare reaction to the vaccine.
The site is open most weeks 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.
Public health officials also are spreading the word that vaccination is what will put the coronavirus pandemic behind the Tri-Cities.
The number of new COVID-19 cases have been rising since earlier this month.
Now both Benton and Franklin counties are at risk of dropping from Phase 3 down to Phase 2 of reopening when the Washington state Department of Health does its next evaluation on Monday.
The number of new daily COVID cases is going up in all age groups except those over 60, said Nikki Ostergaard, spokeswoman for the Benton Franklin Health District.
The age group with the highest number of new cases in the Tri-Cities are people ages 15 to 30,
It is planning a vaccination information campaign targeted to teens 16 and older — the minimum age for which vaccines are approved — and young adults. It also will be planning mobile clinics to reach younger people.
Appointments may be made by going to prepmod.doh.wa.gov and clicking on “Find a Clinic.” On the next page do not fill out the top part of the page, but scroll down and check each page to find appointments at the fairgrounds listed by date.
They also may be made by phone by calling the Washington state Department of Health COVID assistance hotline at at 800-525-0127.
The vaccinelocator.doh.wa.gov also gives information on signing up for appointments at pharmacies and medical clinics. Enter a zip code and it lists places with open appointments within 50 miles.
This story was originally published April 28, 2021 at 12:55 PM.