Get us more vaccine, Inslee told during tour of vaccination clinic in Puyallup
Gov. Jay Inslee asked staff, volunteers and managers of a Puyallup COVID-19 mass vaccination clinic Thursday if they could handle a coming surge in vaccine doses.
The clinic, held at a parking lot across from the Washington State Fairgrounds, was to administer second doses of the Moderna vaccine to 2,500 people.
“What would you need to do to get to 3,500?” Inslee asked the group.
More vaccine, he was told.
More is coming soon, he replied. But getting those doses into arms could be a challenge.
“We are confident that because of the creative juices and the volunteer instincts of the people in Washington, we’re going to meet that challenge,” Inslee said.
The clinic was the fourth mass vaccine event held at the fairgrounds.
Logistics for the event were modeled on 15 prior mass COVID-19 testing events held on the site, according to Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier.
Inslee’s first stop was at a tent where his temperature was checked and then he was on to the consultation tent. There, people are asked medical screening questions.
The screenings can range from 30 seconds to 15 minutes per vehicle, he was told. Inslee asked if more personnel was needed.
“We hire and we get volunteers for as many people as we have registered,” Cyndie Fajardo, vaccine branch director for Pierce County Emergency Management, told Inslee. “It’s not that we need more people. It’s just we have to ask these questions, and we have to make sure that they’re precise.”
Inslee pressed organizers on expanded hours and staff needs if vaccines were to increase by 30%.
“Nurses are in high demand everywhere right now,” said Kayla Scrivner, program manager for communicable disease control at the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department. Volunteers are also harder to find, she said.
“I do think that (having enough) clinical workforce is going to be an issue here in the next couple of months,” Scrivner said.
Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department director Anthony Chen assured Inslee that the system can handle a sudden increase in doses.
“Right now, the health care systems are starving for the vaccine,” Chen said.
Fajardo told Inslee that Pierce County could hold a mass vaccination clinic every day based on staff and demand. But, as it stood Thursday, she wasn’t sure if all of the upcoming clinics would happen.
“We may not get the vaccine for next week,” Fajardo said. “We were waiting to hear from (state) Department of Health what our allocations are. We’re very concerned we may have to cancel two of those events.”
While Washington was allocated 60,000 doses of the newly approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week, the state Department of Health announced Thursday it was getting no shipments of that vaccine for the next three weeks.
Inslee also met with people giving the vaccinations Thursday.
He asked Pauline Olewe, a nurse at Providence St. Peter’s Hospital in Olympia, how she had time to volunteer at the event.
“My job is part-time,” she told the governor. “So I have that extra time to come here and make sure the community is safe.”
“We know you will get your reward in the afterlife for your good work,” Inslee told her.
Dominic Golding was inside a tent when Inslee popped in Thursday. A neat line of ready-to-go adhesive bandages waited for arms.
“We’re trying to assess how much more we can build up capacity because we are going to have more doses,” Inslee told Golding and other volunteers and staff.
Ellie Menta, who is normally a nurse at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, was poking arms Thursday. It’s the second vaccine event she’s volunteered for.
“We’re going to get a lot more doses coming in,” Inslee told her. “How much more of this could you do?”
“I think we’re all pretty interested in volunteering,” Menta said. “We’re all trying to fit it in on our days off.”
Menta said the public has been appreciative.
“They should be,” Inslee told her. “You’re saving their lives.”
Inslee deferred media questions unrelated to the vaccine event but did address the issue of seniors who might be left behind after announcing earlier this week that educators would be eligible for the vaccine.
“Once we start to get more of these doses coming in, we will have expanded access for everybody, including senior citizens,” he said, acknowledging that seniors have made up the vast majority of deaths during the pandemic.
This story was originally published March 4, 2021 at 4:22 PM.
