Nineteen months after the start of the COVID-19 crisis, the City of Seattle is again ramping up its vaccination efforts with mobile teams, partnerships, booster shots, a new high-capacity downtown “Vaccination Hub,” and new preparations to finally vaccinate kids as winter approaches and transmission rates remain at some of their highest levels of the pandemic.

The efforts will be able to provide approximately 10,000 vaccinations per week, officials said Monday, “with the ability to surge capacity if needed.”

The plans come as Seattle prepares for another fall and winter under pandemic conditions with more than 400 cases still being identified daily in the county. The terrible math continues. Every day, 14 people are hospitalized with COVID. Every day, three more people die.

Though it is only slowly climbing, there is progress in getting more people vaccinated. King County totals have now tipped over 81% fully vaccinated. Here in the central city, ZIP code 98112 covering eastern Capitol Hill and nearby neighborhoods have an estimated 88% completed vaccination rate. But it is sandwiched between areas with younger, more diverse, less wealthy demographics where the county says vaccination rates are lower. ZIP code 98102 covering the core of the Hill has a 71% completion rate, the county says, while the population of the 98122 area covering most of the Central District has reached 75% fully vaccinated.

This week brings the deadline for state, county, and city workers to comply with vaccination requirements. CHS reported last week that Seattle’s police force, one worker group of highest concern, have mostly complied with the orders.

Five months ago in May as the city reached key vaccination milestones, officials shut down some resources including its massive “megasite” clinic. The megasite at the Lumen Field Event Center opened in March 2021 as the largest civilian-run vaccination site in the country.

To ramp back up its efforts to boost vaccination resources in the city, Seattle will open a new, smaller site and begin again rolling out the Seattle Fire Department’s mobile vaccination teams.

“The fire department looks forward to relaunching our Mobile Vaccination Team program in the fall to help provide vaccinations to those who are not yet vaccinated and to administer booster shots,” Fire Chief Harold Scoggins said in a statement. “By partnering with small businesses and community-based organizations, and travelling to where people naturally gather, our deployment model has proven to be a successful way for allowing more convenient access to the vaccine.”

City Hall, Swedish, and Virginia Mason Franciscan Health are also teaming up with Amazon to host “a high-volume COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the Amazon Meeting Center, located at 2031 7th Ave.

The Downtown Seattle Vaccination Hub will debut Saturday, October 23, and will operate most Saturdays and Sundays, from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM. The hub will offer first, second, and booster doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Patients can register for an appointment at any city clinic at www.seattle.gov/vaccine.

The City of Seattle vaccination efforts will offer first, second, and booster doses, and will offer a combination of Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, and Pfizer. Proof of insurance and identification are not required; proof of vaccination is recommended for those receiving second or booster doses. All City efforts will offer vaccines for not fully vaccinated people and people eligible for Pfizer boosters, which were recently approved. Individuals eligible for Moderna and Johnson & Johnson boosters and kids ages 5-11 will also be able to receive Pfizer vaccinations through City efforts upon Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, and Washington State Department of Health approval.

The effort joins ongoing clinics from area health providers and pharmacies that have already seen increased demand with the authorization of booster shots. As the six-month threshold is reached by most in Washington state who received their second shots this spring, expect to see increased demand for the third shots.

The kids are also coming. FDA approval for children aged 5 to 11 to begin receiving vaccination shots is expected in coming weeks, not months.

The county’s totals show that the vaccine is massively effective. In King County, you are eight times more likely to catch the virus, 46 times more likely to end up in the hospital, and 78 times more likely to die from the virus if you are not vaccinated.

Meanwhile, with thousands still unvaccinated, masks remain an essential element of daily life and are required for businesses, buildings, public transit, schools, and large outdoor events and gatherings.

The city says it is planning to try to address the remaining unvaccinated gap with its mobile teams “through partnerships with community-based organizations and small businesses” and says the teams are also hoped to help reach “older adults facing mobility barriers” as well as kids under 12 when they become eligible.

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