Vax clinics at health building now

Port site closes; thousands of volunteer hours

By Dan Hammock • May 25, 2021 12:00 am
NIKKI GWIN PHOTO The last day of operations at the county’s mass vaccination site at the Port of Grays Harbor was Friday. Daniel Hannawalt-Morales, Grays Harbor Public Health Vaccine and Testing Branch Director, was among the group of volunteers and staff that reflected on the many hours dedicated to vaccinating as much of the county as possible.
NIKKI GWIN PHOTO The last day of operations at the county’s mass vaccination site at the Port of Grays Harbor was Friday. Daniel Hannawalt-Morales, Grays Harbor Public Health Vaccine and Testing Branch Director, was among the group of volunteers and staff that reflected on the many hours dedicated to vaccinating as much of the county as possible.

The final shots were administered Friday at the county’s COVID-19 mass vaccination site at the Port of Grays Harbor.

Since it delivered its first doses late in January, the mostly volunteer crew working the site in a Pasha Automotive warehouse have given just shy of 20,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“Today was a big day for us here at public health, as it was our last mass vaccination clinic at the Pasha site,” said Grays Harbor Public Health COVID-19 information officer Maranatha Hay Friday. “It really is incredible all of the work that our faithful volunteers did. They are appreciated!”

The numbers are pretty impressive: 9,554 first doses administered, 9,219 second doss administered, and 491 one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines delivered. That totals 19,264 doses, and 9,710 people vaccinated.

Demand outweighed supply when the clinic opened Jan. 27, but recently with vaccines readily available at pharmacies across the county the site wasn’t filling its scheduled appointments. The site could easily deliver 1,000 vaccines in a single day.

The mass vaccination site came together pretty quickly at the beginning of the year, with the county’s incident management team, the Port of Grays Harbor, Pasha Automotive, area hospitals, local police and fire departments, and even Homeland Security combining to get the site operational. The site was staffed mostly by volunteers, including retired doctors and nurses and senior citizens — in the end, Hay said approximately 2,860 volunteer hours were logged at the site.

Now, clinics will be held three days a week at the public health building at 2109 Sumner Ave. in Aberdeen. This week’s clinics began Monday, with clinics Wednesday 3:30-7:30 p.m. and Friday 12:30-4:30 p.m.

The clinics are listed along with other vaccination locations at vaccinelocator.doh.wa.gov. People “should schedule online but we will not turn anyone away if they don’t have one,” said Grays Harbor Public Health Vaccine and Testing Branch Director Daniel Hannawalt-Morales. Appointments are preferred as it prevents wasted vaccines.

NIKKI GWIN PHOTO The last day of operations at the county’s mass vaccination site at the Port of Grays Harbor was Friday. Daniel Hannawalt-Morales, Grays Harbor Public Health Vaccine and Testing Branch Director, was among the group of volunteers and staff that reflected on the many hours dedicated to vaccinating as much of the county as possible.

NIKKI GWIN PHOTO The last day of operations at the county’s mass vaccination site at the Port of Grays Harbor was Friday. Daniel Hannawalt-Morales, Grays Harbor Public Health Vaccine and Testing Branch Director, was among the group of volunteers and staff that reflected on the many hours dedicated to vaccinating as much of the county as possible.