As the county was setting up its mass vaccination site Tuesday, Grays Harbor Public Health’s Response Communications Officer Maranatha Hay was at a Greater Grays Harbor business forum describing how vaccines are coming to the county, how they are being distributed and to whom.

Hay, along with Congressman Derek Kilmer and representatives from Sen. Patty Murray’s office and the state Department of Health, spoke on economic recovery, vaccination efforts and the state’s reopening plan. The mass vaccination site, on Port of Grays Harbor property, opened as scheduled Wednesday morning.

Hay said the county is following several specific objectives in its vaccination roll-out “in order to accomplish this incredible challenge we have ahead of us.”

Those objectives include rolling the vaccine out in an equitable way, “so when we roll out phases everyone has the same opportunity” to get vaccinated, said Hay. Another is to stay flexible within the state’s vaccination guidelines, being able to shift gears when the state changes its guidelines, which is often. A third is to keep lines of communication open between all the county’s different partners — fire, police, the hospitals, and health care providers — “to make sure everyone is on the same page, moving in step together as we go through these phases.”

The fourth objective: “Waste no vaccines,” said Hays. “We don’t want to waste a single vaccine. Each one of these is very precious.”

Hay said in order to move into a different phase of vaccinations, a certain number of those qualified for the previous phase need to be vaccinated.

“Once we have administered the first doses to at least 50% of those in (one phase), that is when we move” to the next phase, said Hay. “So we need to move through half of the people in that population group.”

The mass vaccination site is set up to vaccinate 1,000 in its first week. “In the future, after this week, we hope to be holding regular mass vaccination clinics and the goal is to vaccinate about 1,000 a week,” said Hay. That is contingent on supplies of vaccine allocated to the county by the state.

“We do get allocations weekly from the state, and also a monthly allocation, currently 4,800 vaccines a month, 1,200 weekly,” said Hay. Hay said retail pharmacies will get about 20% of the county’s total vaccine allocation.

Hay said it’s recommended the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines not be used at the same vaccination site at the same time, so the county is sticking with Pfizer for its mass vaccination site. Both require a second follow up booster, Pfizer 21 days later, Moderna 28 days later.

She said the current shortage of vaccines is not specific to Grays Harbor County, but is a nationwide and worldwide concern. However, some relief could be on the way. Hay said the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is expected to be approved in February. “This is a single dose vaccine, which is very promising,” she said. “It takes up less manpower and resources not having to double dose all those thousands of people, which is very helpful and will help us accomplish our goals much quicker.”

The approval of another vaccine from AstraZeneca could come in March or April, so “the current state of shortages is hopefully going to last only a few months,” said Hay.

Summing up, Hay said, “Long term care facilities are beginning the process for retail pharmacy partnerships, we’re hoping to see movement on that in the coming weeks.” She said the county is partnering with hospitals “to see that the vaccination supply stays steady.”

Roadmap to Recovery

Dr. Bob Lutz, state Department of Health COVID-19 Medical Advisor, went over some of the highlights of the state’s current Roadmap to Recovery to reopen the state. The plan is divided into two phases, with the state split into nine regions. Lutz said it’s not known if phases beyond Phase 2 will be implemented in the future.

The goal is to minimize the impacts on the state’s hospital system. The state was divided into regions based on activities, travel patterns and medical services availability. Grays Harbor is included in the West region, with Lewis, Thurston, and Pacific counties.

The plan looks at four metrics, based not just on health care capacity, “but also disease activity in the community,” said Lutz. “By using a number of metrics we can increase the confidence we are either improving or going in the opposite direction in the regions.”

To move out of Phase 1, a region must meet all four metrics: a 10% decrease in cases per 100,000 population over the previous two weeks when compared to the two weeks prior; a 10% decrease in new COVID-19 hospital admission rate per 100,000 population over two weeks; ICU bed occupancy of less than 90%; and coronavirus test positivity rate of less than 10%. Since the system was introduced earlier this month, no region has qualified to move into Phase 2.

Once a region reaches Phase 2, in order to remain there, three out of the four metrics must be achieved, said Lutz. Phase 2 allows for indoor seating at restaurants at 25% capacity, and places like movie theaters to open at 25% capacity.

Lutz said the new reopening plan is more consistent across different activities than the original county-based four phase plan.

The state “gets criticized for being a little more conservative” with its COVID restrictions, said Lutz, despite the fact that the pandemic started in Washington. Last week marked the one year anniversary of the first case reported in the state. He said that despite the state’s early entry into the pandemic, it ranks among the best in the nation in some critical statistics, ranking 44th in death rate and 45th in total cases per 100,000 population.

Lutz said, “The likelihood is we’ll be dealing with this for some time, and so irrespective of all the excitement about vaccines, they are a limited resource right now,” the basics of stopping the spread — masking, social distancing, avoiding large groups, etc. — are still critical components.

Congressional take

Congressman Derek Kilmer said since asking some 10 months ago for constituents to call with their concerns, “I’ve heard from a lot of people who are really hurting and have had a really difficult time, and in that regard I’ve had a sense of urgency to provide more relief from the federal government.” He talked about the latest federal relief package, and his work toward developing a 10-year federal block grant program to assist with regions that were suffering economically even before the pandemic.

Colleen Bryan from Sen. Patty Murray’s office said she’s hoping the next stimulus package will come out of the Senate in the next couple weeks “before the Senate gets delayed by impeachment.” She said President Biden’s plan will provide investment to hire 100,000 new health care workers, $1.9 trillion for schools and business assistance, and $1,400 direct payment stimulus checks.

FILE IMAGE Presenting at the Greater Grays Harbor vaccinations and COVID relief forum Tuesday, clockwise from top left: Greater Grays Harbor Inc. CEO Lynnette Buffington, Grays Harbor Public Health representative Maranatha Hay, Congressman Derek Kilmer, and Sen. Patty Murray representative Colleen Bryan.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH What is allowed in phases 1 and 2 of the state’s Roadmap to Recovery.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH The differences between the state’s current Roadmap to Recovery and the original per-county phased plan for reopening the state, by key sector.