Vaccine Data

As of April 10, more than 1 in 3 Whatcom County residents (34.59%) have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and 22.99% of our community is fully vaccinated. 

Providers in Whatcom County are due to receive 6,440 first doses and 5,710 second doses COVID-19 vaccine for the week of April 11th. This total includes 400 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine that will not be administered at this time.

See the graphic below for more local vaccine data.

Community Vaccination Center Update

This coming weekend, April 17 and 18, there will be two vaccine clinics held at the Community Vaccination Center. Both clinics will be held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a 1-hour break from 1-2 p.m, and both will be offering the Moderna vaccine. 

These will be the first CVC clinics open to anyone 18 or older! Although 16-17 year-olds will also be eligible after April 15, the Moderna vaccine is not permitted for use by anyone younger than 18. The only vaccine available for 16-17 year-olds right now is the Pfizer vaccine. 

Registration for the Saturday afternoon and Sunday clinics opens at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 14.

• The Saturday morning clinic is only for people needing their second Moderna dose who got their first dose at the CVC. We are currently contacting these people by phone and email to schedule their appointments. 
• To sign up for the Saturday afternoon or Sunday clinics, go to PrepMod.doh.wa.gov or call (360) 778-6075. Online scheduling is much faster than scheduling over the phone, but if you have difficulty scheduling online due to language barriers or other issues, please call! 

If you don’t get an appointment time for the CVC clinic, there’s still a chance you can be vaccinated if you sign up to be on the “Waitlist”. If doses are available at the end of the day, you will get a call. Be aware that the wait list is for that clinic day only. The CVC does not maintain an ongoing wait list.

If you’ve had difficulty using PrepMod in the past, check out our PrepMod video tutorial, available in English and Spanish. For more information about what to expect at the CVC, visit www.vaccinatewhatcom.org and watch our videos in English and Spanish, produced by BTV and Veritas Media.

Tips on Searching PrepMod for the Community Vaccination Clinic

The Community Vaccination Center at Bellingham Technical College shows up best when you follow these steps in PrepMod:

• Check “COVID-19 Vaccination” under “Which service(s) are you seeking?”
• Type “Bellingham” in the “Search by Name of Location” search bar. 
• Leave the zip code field and all other search bars blank. 

The CVC at BTC should be the first clinic to show up on the screen in PrepMod if these steps are followed. As a reminder, the clinic will not go live until 9:30am on Wednesday. It will not show up in PrepMod before that time. 

I can’t wait to get vaccinated, but I think I might have COVID-19. Can I get vaccinated anyway?

If you have COVID-19 you should wait to get vaccinated. DOH recommends that people with COVID-19 wait until they feel better and their isolation period is over to get vaccinated. 

Additionally, DOH asks that people who’ve been exposed to someone with COVID-19 wait until their recommended quarantine period has finished before getting vaccinated, unless they're at high risk of infecting others. If it’s likely you might infect others, then you may get vaccinated during your quarantine period. 

Learn more about getting the vaccine if you have COVID-19 on DOH’s website. 

I’m vaccinated! What now?

Congrats! If it’s been two weeks since your second dose, or two weeks after your J&J dose, you are fully vaccinated! What does that mean? It’s still important to wear a mask when you are in public settings or gathering with unvaccinated people who are at increased risk of severe illness or complications from COVID-19. 

Here are some other things you should do:

• If you have COVID-19 symptoms, get tested! You can still get COVID if you have been vaccinated, even though it’s rare.
• Continue to keep gatherings small, and gather outside whenever possible.
• Get you friends, family, and neighbors vaccinated! Many of our most vulnerable community members still haven’t been vaccinated yet. If you have a friend or loved one that still needs to get vaccinated, help them find an appointment or offer to give them a ride to their appointment.

FDA and CDC Announce Pause in Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Administration

The CDC and FDA are recommending a pause on the use of the Johnson & Johnson (also called Janssen) vaccine out of an abundance of caution while they study six reported U.S. cases of a rare but severe type of blood clot in individuals who received the J&J vaccine.The Washington State Department of Health has also put use of this vaccine on hold until there are further recommendations from federal agencies.

These adverse events appear to be extremely rare, however, because vaccine safety is a top priority, officials are putting the use of this vaccine on hold until they can study it further. As of April 12, more than 6.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) vaccine have been administered in the U.S. 

If you have an appointment scheduled with a provider to receive the J&J vaccine, you won’t be able to get vaccinated at this time. You can try to make an appointment for either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine by searching the Vaccine Locator.

If you received the J&J vaccine and develop a severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain, or shortness of breath within three weeks after vaccination, contact your health care provider. For those who got the vaccine more than a month ago, the risk of this complication is very low.

More Information

More information about the COVID-19 vaccine, vaccine planning, and vaccine safety can be found on the DOH’s COVID-19 vaccine web page at www.covidvaccinewa.org. For information about COVID-19 vaccination in Whatcom County, visit our webpage at www.whatcomcounty.us/covidvaccine.