CLARK COUNTY, Wash. — Washington state health officials said they will open four new mass vaccination sites this week. One of them will be at the Clark County Fairgrounds in Ridgefield. The other three sites are in Kennewick, Spokane and Wenatchee.
The sites are open by appointment only to people who have pre-registered and are eligible for the vaccine under Phase 1A or 1B-1. Those without appointments will be turned away.
Last week, Dr. Umair Shah, Washington's secretary of health, said Monday was the plan for opening. But according to the Washington State Department of Health, the sites will focus Monday on pre-vaccination planning and preparation.
"Start dates were determined by the arrival of vaccine," WSDOH said in a press release. "Ridgefield, Wenatchee and Kennewick will administer Pfizer BioNTech, which will be delivered Monday afternoon and requires time to thaw."
To get the vaccine, residents should first use Phase Finder to confirm eligibility. Eligible residents can then make an appointment. Here's information on how to make an appointment at each of the four sites:
- Spokane: At Spokane Arena, Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday-Sunday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Make an appointment
- Ridgefield: At Clark County Fairgrounds, Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Make an appointment or call 1-800-525-0127 and press #
- Wenatchee: At Town Toyota Center, Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Make an appointment or call 1-800-525-0127 and press #
- Kennewick: At Tri-Cities Fairgrounds, Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Make an appointment or call 1-800-525-0127 and press #
The current goal is to provide approximately 500 vaccinations per day at each site, though WSDOH said it will be less than that to start because of the state's limited supply of vaccine.
"As our vaccine allocations increase, these sites will provide additional capacity to get people vaccinated quickly and efficiently across the state,” Shah said in Monday's press release. "With much less supply of vaccine than people currently eligible, it is going to take time which will require patience from all of us. I want to thank our partners who are working together to help us build the infrastructure needed to reach our goal of 45,000 vaccinations a day."
Last week, Shah told KGW that once the sites are up to full speed, they could be vaccinating 100,000 people a week.
"The number of vaccines given to the people of Washington is growing by the day," acting Assistant Secretary of Health Michele Roberts said last week. "We're confident that these numbers will continue to grow now that we're in phase 1B, Tier 1."
As of Friday, 391,195 vaccine doses have been given in Washington out of the more than 820,000 doses the state has received. Last week, WSDOH said they expected to receive nearly 236,000 more doses this week.
But beyond that, the vaccine supply is unclear, making planning tougher. Dr. Shah hopes clarity will come with the new federal administration.
"We want to get more information on how many doses are going to be allocated to our state and what that looks like for weeks ahead, but we do not have a good indication on when that's going to happen," Shah said last week.
Last week, Gov. Inslee said Washington National Guard members would be "significantly involved" in making the mass vaccination sites work.