Hurry — if you want to get your COVID shot at the Tacoma Dome, time’s running out
Pierce County next month will start to wind down some of its COVID-19 vaccine work in response to lower demand.
On Friday, Mike Halliday, public information specialist for the county’s Department of Emergency Management, told The News Tribune that the department would be “reducing some of the limited duration COVID-19 workforce at a rate appropriate with the reduced demand for services.”
That includes the Tacoma Dome, which has been operating on a limited six-week run since April 27.
“DEM will maintain a COVID-19 workforce to support the transition to mobile vaccination clinics that are scheduled through June. The department will also provide resources to TPCHD’s static clinics and mobile vaccine program.”
The current Tacoma Dome vaccine clinic ends June 1 and will be closed May 30-31 for the Memorial Holiday weekend, he noted.
Halliday said the department’s mass vaccination efforts have served more than 80,000 in the county since starting in January.
The Tacoma Dome vaccine clinic will end June 1 as scheduled. It also will be closed May 30 and 31 for the holiday weekend. No appointment is necessary. Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are being administered at the site, which is open from noon to 8 p.m.
The news follows earlier announcements from the state and King County about various mass vaccine sites closing as the state transitions to more targeted outreach.
For most of May, the county has faced declining numbers of those seeking vaccinations.
How the county is performing in terms of getting everyone vaccinated depends on how you measure.
If you measure by the county’s total population, 43 percent has initiated vaccination, and 34 percent is fully vaccinated, compared with 49.19 percent in the state initiating vaccines and 41.22 percent fully vaccinated.
However, among residents 16 and older, 51.6 percent in Pierce County have initiated vaccination, with 42.72 percent fully vaccinated, compared with 61.79 percent initiating and 52.31 percent fully vaccinated statewide.
At the Board of Health meeting May 19, a presentation from the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department showed that at least one walk-in clinic, at the former Toys R Us site in Puyallup, was only seeing 15 percent of its available slots filled at that time.
This story was originally published May 28, 2021 at 6:07 PM.
