By Pepper Fisher
SEQUIM – The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s Family Medical Clinic in Sequim has begun donating an overabundance of the Moderna vaccine from the federal government to inoculate local police officers and firefighters, and hopes to be able to start vaccinating members of the general public next week.
Health Director Brent Simcosky says if the clinic gets the third shipment of the vaccine they’re expecting this week, they will work with the County Health Department to begin vaccinating people in the 1B Group, starting with people 75 years and older. The target date is Tuesday, January 12.
To do that, Simcosky says they’ll need larger venues than their clinic can provide, so they’re working hard to set that up by next week.
“And here’s the problem, trying to figure the logistics of how you vaccinate somebody, that only takes 5 minutes, but then you have to wait for 15 minutes. It creates a log jam. And so what we’re trying to set up is some off-site locations. I’m talking to the school district right now and a local church that wants to volunteer it’s site. The first week will be for 75 years and up. That’s the most vulnerable group and at the highest risk, and it’s too hard to separate underlying health conditions. We’re just going by age. It’ll probably be two locations, and what we’ll probably do it like, 5 hours a day for 3 days.”
County Health Officer Dr. Allison Berry Unthank says the welcome addition of the Tribe’s surplus is moving the county’s vaccination effort ahead of schedule.
But who exactly is in the 1B Group? Dr. Unthank says that still has not been made perfectly clear by the state Dept. of Health.
“You know, unfortunately it has not. We are still waiting for the state to clarify that. They have promised us that we will have an answer by mid-week. And so that will help us solidify who can schedule. Likely, we’re looking at, it could either be people over 75 or people with underlying medical conditions or potentially both. But we don’t know yet.”
Simcosky agrees they could use some clarity this late in the game.
“You know, it’s not real clear. The thing is, it’s kind of fluid. It changes. You know, one minute dental clinics are kind of here, and one minute they’re there. And then you know, we’re not sure where teachers are on the list. You know, they’re talking about whether teachers should be moved up, and so it’s been kind of fluid.”
As soon as state officials release a solid list of who is in the 1B Group, Dr. Unthank says the county website will be updated and people can start signing up to get their shot.