By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – Clallam County leads the state in number of citizens vaccinated, which was 5450 doses as of yesterday’s event in Sequim, which so far 7% of the population. That number will grow significantly in the next 10 days with another 4000 shots in the arm, putting us at 12% of the population.
County Health Officer Dr. Allison Berry (name change as of today) said in Friday’s weekly Covid briefing that her Department is committed to distributing the vaccine as fast as it comes in, but that this is all the doses they have for now.
“As soon as we have stable, reliable, adequate vaccine, we plan to move to regular mass vaccination clinics. We’re putting into place logistical planning right now to move to weekly mass vaccinations, looking at likely mid-February. The goal from my department is to vaccinate 2,000 people a week. With the remainder of the work we are doing, it would get us to herd immunity by the summer, which is my goal.”
It’s important to note that because many communities in Washington State have not even vaccinated their first responders and hospital staff, Dr. Berry says health officials are rerouting vaccine doses to get those areas caught up. For that reason, she expects there to be about a 2-week lag before we get any more vaccines.
“I am not concerned that people won’t get their doses. There may be a small lag. And so one thing to understand about the second dose is, that range is the minimum. So, say you got the Pfizer vaccine. You have to wait three weeks until your next dose. Moderna vaccine, you have to wait four weeks, but you can wait four-to-six weeks. There’s a range that you can get it in. It doesn’t have to be on that day. But that’s very normal in the vaccination world. And so, if it’s a little bit delayed on your second dose, it still works.”
Forks is hosting vaccination clinics Friday and Saturday, Port Angeles begins their 2-weekend program on Saturday by reservation only, and all of those slots have been filled. Sequim’s 5-day, first-come, first-served drive through event began Thursday and continues on the 16th, 19th, 21st and 23rd.
Dr. Berry says our county’s total number of cases as of Friday is 861. There has been a recent surge in infections here that Dr. Berry attributes to New Year celebrations and an outbreak at a local church, but the only number of concern to her right now is our percent of positivity in the last 2 weeks, which is today up to 7.7%.