By Ann McCreary
With an ample supply of vaccine, North Valley Hospital in Tonasket held a walk-in clinic last weekend, providing COVID-19 vaccinations to about 100 people without requiring appointments.
“This was a new model for us, to hold a fully walk-in clinic,” said hospital CEO John McReynolds. “To my knowledge, this is the first event in the county that didn’t require a registration and a waiting list, which demonstrates everyone’s progress in getting the B1 group vaccinated.”
Most of the people who came to the clinic were from the Oroville area, McReynolds said. As supplies of vaccine increase, North Valley hopes to do more walk-in clinics.
Vaccine providers in Okanogan County continue to collaborate to get shots into the arms of as many people as quickly as possible. They are combining waiting lists for some large events, including a drive-in vaccination event last Friday at the Okanogan County Fairgrounds where 470 people were vaccinated.
Three Rivers Hospital in Brewster hosted another vaccination event at Liberty Bell High School last week where 306 people received second doses. Another 123 people got their second shots at a vaccination clinic in Pateros, said Jennifer Best, hospital spokesperson.
Family Health Centers held a vaccine event at its Twisp clinic last weekend where 82 people received their second dose of Moderna, said Julie Wehmeyer, infection control manager for Family Health Centers. Another event is scheduled for March 13 at Liberty Bell High School to provide scheduled second doses, she said.
“We have asked to be considered for the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. We will wait to hear if they add J&J vaccines to our orders, or if we will continue with just Moderna,” Wehmeyer said. The Johnson and Johnson one-dose vaccine received federal authorization for use just last weekend.
North Valley Hospital had over 2,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at the beginning of the week, and had 500 appointments scheduled — most of them second doses, McReynolds said. “We are planning more events and likely will utilize the walk-in model for at least some of these,” he said.
Three Rivers and Mid-Valley hospitals, which provide the Moderna vaccine, have not received shipments of first dose vaccines in recent weeks, but are continuing to provide second shots to complete the two-dose regimen.
“I believe we are nearing the end of eligible Phase 1B individuals and are preparing resources to handle the next surge when phase 1B Tier 2 opens up,” said Richard Morales, director of public relations at Mid-Valley Hospital in Omak.
Under the state’s eligibility guidelines, vaccinations are currently open to Phases 1A, which includes health care workers at risk of COVID-19 infection, first responders, people who live or work in long-term care facilities, and 1B Tier 1, which includes anyone 65 and older, and people 50 and older who live in a multigenerational household.
The next phase, 1B Tier 2, will include high-risk critical workers 50 years or older who work in certain congregate settings such as agriculture, food processing, grocery stores, K-12 educators and staff, child care, corrections, prisons, jails, detention centers, public transit, fire and law enforcement.
Increasing access
Efforts to increase access to the vaccine among underserved populations “seem to be paying off, although we still have a very long way to go,” McReynolds said. “In December and January, 2% of our patients vaccinated by North Valley Hospital listed Hispanic or Latino as their ethnicity. In February it jumped to 4%.”
Family Health Centers, which operates five health clinics in Okanogan County and one in Bridgeport, “has administered 2,630 vaccines throughout the county, with almost 30% being administered to our Hispanic population,” Wehmeyer said.
Three Rivers Hospital is “focusing on outreach to schools, to see if they can send information home with students,” said Best. “Okanogan County Public Health has been a huge help in getting information out in Brewster and Bridgeport. Last week, they were in Brewster hitting the laundromat, food bank, and a couple of businesses.”
Morales said the county is working to provide additional information in Spanish about eligibility and vaccine questions.
Okanogan County vaccine providers are continuing to work toward a centralized process for registering and scheduling, “which I hope will take the guesswork out of where and when vaccines are available,” said Morales.
He advised people to register for a vaccination with only one provider to prevent duplication.
“There is not a need to re-register for your second dose,” Morales said. Vaccine providers “will contact you with appointment confirmations five to seven days prior to your due date when we have confirmed that the state will be sending us enough vaccine to meet demand.”
In Okanogan County, a total of 13,798 people had received at least one dose of vaccine and 4,894 were fully vaccinated as of March 1.
