Post navigation

Prev: (04/15/21) | Next: (04/16/21)

Welcome to ‘Phase Everybody’ Seattle, where half of you already have at least your first shot

Mariners announcer David Sims gets his second poke (Image: King County Public Health)

Seattle begins “Phase Everybody” opening the gates fully on the state’s COVID-19 vaccination eligibility with half of King County’s adult population having already received at least their first shot.

Thursday, April 15th marks the full opening of eligibility to everybody 16 and older in the state after weeks of metered, phase by phase invitations starting with the most vulnerable and oldest. Testing continues for vaccines safe for those 16 and younger.

The opening adds another 1.6 million adults to the state’s eligible ranks. There are 6.3 million adult Washingtonians.

Officials say the best way to find an appointment is to use the state’s Vaccine Locator at vaccinelocator.doh.wa.gov.

Last week, Seattle officials marked the biggest week yet for vaccinations at city-run facilities including the Lumen Field megasite — 30,000 doses.

King County Executive Dow Constantine announced his county’s 50% vaccination milestone Wednesday afternoon.

The City of Seattle announced Thursday that it continues to face challenges on the supply side of federal vaccine allotments.

“While the City has not seen a significant increase in supply, the City of Seattle and its partners will administer 24,400 doses of COVID-19 vaccine,” an update reads. “Since becoming a COVID-19 vaccine provider on January 14, 2021, the City and its partners have administered 100,000 vaccinations, and helped create four fixed COVID-19 vaccination sites in North Seattle, Rainier Beach, West Seattle, and the Lumen Field Event Center. In addition, the Seattle Fire Department (SFD) Mobile Vaccination Teams (MVT) have begun administering vaccinations to formerly homeless individuals in permanent supportive housing.”

This week, the Community Vaccination Site at the Lumen Field Event Center will administer 11,900 doses of the Pfizer vaccine across Wednesday, April 14, Thursday, April 15, and Saturday, April 17. The Community Testing and Vaccination Hubs in Rainier Beach and West Seattle, operated by SFD, will administer approximately 8,350 doses of vaccine this week including one day of Johnson & Johnson on April 12 at West Seattle. As soon as the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) issued its recommendation on the use of Johnson & Johnson, SFD immediately switched any planned Johnson & Johnson appointments to Pfizer. The SFD community hubs operate six days per week and have the ability to administer up to 1,500 vaccinations per day, per site. The Community Vaccination Hub at North Seattle College – operated by Seattle Visiting Nurse Association – will administer 2,400 doses of the Moderna vaccine this week. The North Seattle site currently operates Wednesdays through Fridays each week, and is primarily a drive-through site.

Meanwhile, Pierce County was one of three counties pushed back to the Phase 2 level of reopening this week after its outbreak metrics failed to meet required thresholds.

Gov. Jay Inslee announced counties must maintain at least one of two key metrics — 14-day case rate and 7-day hospitalization rate — to stay in their current phase. Large counties like King County with more than 50,000 residents must maintain a 14-day average of new COVID cases at or below 200 per 100,000 residents, or a seven-day average of new hospitalizations per 100,000 at five or fewer to remain in Phase 3 which allows looser restrictions on social gatherings and business including a 50% cap on indoor dining capacity.

King County appears poised to barely skirt by again in the next assessment next Monday. Its infection rate is just under the 200 new cases a day threshold and could easily exceed the requirement soon. The hospitalization rate, on the other hand, still has significant buffer at 3.8 per 100,000 per day but that delta could also shrink in coming weeks.

Source: King County COVID-19 Key Indicators

CHS reported this week on the devastating financial impact of the pandemic and the massive amount of federal loans received by businesses in the Capitol Hill area.

 

PLEASE HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE!
Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.

 

 
Subscribe and support CHS Contributors -- $1/$5/$10 per month

11 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Robert
Robert
2 years ago

The Washington Vaccine Locator site is completely useless. None of the sites in Seattle it shows as having appointments available actually have any openings. Been checking for days. Lots of availability in the suburbs, but hard to get to if you don’t have a car. Why aren’t vaccines being distributed to where the most demand is? What is the point of the huge site at the stadium if they can’t get any drugs to administer? Going to bite the bullet and take the bus all the way to Renton.

CD Neighbor
CD Neighbor
2 years ago
Reply to  Robert

For the mass vaccination sites, it’s a two step process – first you get on the waiting list, then you get a message with a code that you can use to sign up. I also heard on the radio this morning that people are being given zip code priority at those sites, so depending on where you live it could be some time before you even get the invite to schedule.

Right now the best bet is probably to keep a really close eye on the Safeway pharmacy site… they update appointment availabilities throughout the day (every 1/2 hour), so if you have the time and inclination to keep an eye on it, you can find openings. QFC is offering appointments too – but I could never get the scheduling page to work right….

The other place that’s got good scheduling is the Fred Hutch – they open the next day of scheduling at midnight and if you’re quick you can score an appointment.

Another J Seattle
Another J Seattle
2 years ago
Reply to  Robert

Agreed. The DOH vaccine locator is one of the worst ways to find a vaccine. Check out vaccinespotter.org to search across multiple pharmacies or covidwa.com. If you’re willing and able to drive farther away, there are lots of spots at mass vaccine clinics on prepmod.doh.wa.gov.

CH Resident
CH Resident
2 years ago

Here is another resource for finding out about the vaccine:

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=RR7meOtrCUCPmTWdi1T0G2oHZB0Q1AZPn08T2zoB3clUOVRHQldQNlM2WDM4OUdBN0s3REE1MUc3Sy4u

Also, if you have a Primary Care Provider, maybe check with them as well.

CD Rez
CD Rez
2 years ago

Log into your insurance provider site. KP makes it very easy.

Selina
Selina
2 years ago
Reply to  CD Rez

KP seems to only have appointments in Renton when I talked to them. Odd since it’s tiny compared to Capitol Hill.

CD Rez
CD Rez
2 years ago
Reply to  Selina

So go to Renton. They have a huge campus there that is set up to handle the volume. Renton is like 8 miles from Cap Hill, you could literally walk there if you wanted to but Id take the bus or an uber if I was carless…

Selina
Selina
2 years ago
Reply to  CD Rez

Yeah that makes sense, I was able to get an appointment in CP after retrying a bit through out the day. I wasn’t clear if they were offering appointments at all, but they are.

Kirsten
Kirsten
2 years ago

Seattle Infectious Disease Clinic in downtown Seattle just opened up a bunch of appointments as of 3:30pm Saturday.

Sam
Sam
2 years ago

This Twitter feed is the place – jump on list right when available @covidwashington you can access just on google don’t need sign up to Twitter

Top 'O the Hill
Top 'O the Hill
2 years ago

I signed up for Virginia Mason’s list (I signed up for pretty much any list I could), and VM texted & emailed me Thursday morning to book an appt, and I was able to book an appointment for yesterday afternoon at their pop-up site by Amazon’s Spheres. Super easy to get to from the Hill. Everyone who worked/volunteered there was super nice, too.