Still need a COVID-19 vaccination? You’ll have to wait as state focuses on second doses

Appointments to get a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine will be extremely limited in Washington state Feb. 15-19 because the state Department of Health plans to focus on second doses, the DOH announced late Friday.

DOH is still determining how many first doses will be available next week. For the available first doses, DOH said it will prioritize:

• State and local mobile vaccination teams for long-term care facilities and adult family homes;
• Mass vaccination sites in King, Pierce, Snohomish, and Spokane counties; and
• Other sites that address equity.

The state-run mass vaccination sites in Ridgefield, Kennewick and Wenatchee will offer second doses only, except for first dose appointments at the Ridgefield site that were rescheduled due to winter weather closures on Feb. 12 and 13.

Providers requested about 170,000 second doses for the week, significantly more than the state’s allocation of 92,325 second doses. State health officials believe the difference is due to some providers using doses of vaccine that were intended to complete the two-dose vaccine series as the initial dose earlier in January, a DOH news release said. That means a portion of next week’s available first doses will need to be used to complete the series for those people.

This focus on second doses is anticipated to be less in upcoming weeks, the DOH news release said.

“We are monitoring the distribution of doses closely and making adjustments as needed,” said Dr. Umair A. Shah, the Secretary of Health, said in the news release. “While the limited availability of first doses will be challenging this coming week, focusing on second doses will help pave the way for an improved and more sustainable allocation of vaccines in future weeks.”

The state asks people to be patient and said Washington’s allocation from the federal government is steadily increasing, according to the release.

For more information, go to the DOH website.

This story was originally published February 12, 2021 at 5:41 PM.