More vaccines headed to the county, first dose clinics starting April 9

Nearly 32,000 total doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been put in Grays Harbor County residents’ arms, according to data from the state Department of Health, and more vaccine is on the way to the mass vaccination site at the Port of Grays Harbor.

“We are being sent more vaccines for upcoming first dose clinics. These clinics will be held on April 9, 22 and 23,” said Maranatha Hay, Grays Harbor Public Health COVID response information officer. “As we enter a new phase on March 31, we will give priority to those newly eligible for their vaccines that had signed up through our intake form. They will be contacted via email or phone. Once they have been contacted, these links will be posted to our website. I believe all three of these clinics will be Pfizer as well.”

The Pfizer vaccine is a two-dose vaccine. Three clinics starting Thursday will be second dose appointments.

“Next week, we are conducting second dose clinics for those who were vaccinated between March 11 and March 13. Our clinics will run April 1-3 for a total of about 2,340 doses between the three days,” said Hay. “All vaccines will be Pfizer. Those that have received their first dose were contacted this week to schedule their second dose via email or by phone. These clinic links are exclusively sent to those receiving their second dose and will not be posted on our website.”

Data from the state Monday, the most current data available, showed 31,290 first and second doses had been delivered countywide, with 27.6% of the county population receiving at least one dose. The percent of the population that is fully vaccinated as of Monday is 15.8%.

Those who want the vaccine at the mass vaccination site should visit healthygh.org/covid19-vaccine-appointment frequently; the county usually knows how many doses they will have for the coming week on Friday and will post links on that web page for eligible residents to set an appointment.

Weekly numbers for Grays Harbor

Other providers have administered thousands of doses of vaccine in the county as well, including Sea Mar health centers, Walmart, Safeway, Rite Aid and the East County and Elma pharmacies. Check their web pages for information; for example, Sea Mar’s vaccination page, seamar.org/covid-vaccine.html, Friday morning indicated they had no vaccines at any of their Washington locations. A list of vaccine providers in every county can be found at doh.wa.gov/YouandYourFamily/Immunization/VaccineLocations.

In the week of March 18-24, three new COVID-19-related deaths were reported in the county, bringing the pandemic total to 57, a rate of deaths per the total 3,524 county cases of 1.6%. By comparison, the death rate per case in Pacific and Lewis counties is 1.3%, 1.1% in Thurston and Mason counties, and 0.6% in Jefferson County.

There were 74 new cases reported in the county the week of March 18-24, with more than one-third of those — 25 — reported March 19.

Pacific County

New case counts are coming down after a bump earlier this month. Pacific County Public Health reported there were four new cases the week of March 18-24, bringing the county pandemic total to 823. The number of active cases has plummeted from 25 March 17 to just three March 24.

There were 18 cases reported the two weeks prior to March 10, and the cases per 100,000 population over the previous two weeks number has dropped from a little over 175 March 17 to 83.2 March 24. There was one new hospitalization this week in the county, bringing the total pandemic hospitalization number to 28. Deaths attributed to COVID in the county stand at 10 for the pandemic.

As of March 20, public health reports that 13,254 total doses of vaccine have been administered in the county, 1,754 more than the total a week earlier. The percentage of the county population that has received a second dose has risen to 22.27%, up more than 5% from the previous week, and 28.31% has received a first dose. Residents can get on the Pacific County vaccination wait list at www.tinyurl.com/paccovaccine.