The county health department will be calling people on their waitlist to schedule appointments
VANCOUVER — If you’re one of the 20,000 or so people currently on a waitlist for COVID-19 vaccine appointments through Clark County Public Health, stay close to your phone.
The county announced today that they are starting to reach out to those people to set up appointments for a community vaccination site being opened starting on Friday at the Tower Mall site in Vancouver, at 5403 E. Mill Plain Boulevard.
That’s the same location where the county, along with the city of Vancouver, have set up a no-barrier COVID-19 testing site. The county noted that the vaccination site will not impact the operations of the testing facility, which will remain open 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.
This vaccination clinic will also be in partnership with Vancouver, as well as Safeway pharmacies, according to a release from CCPH.
“Safeway is thrilled to be partnering with Clark County to make vaccine more accessible to its residents,” said Stephen Certo, Safeway Director of Pharmacy for Oregon and Southern Washington. “We hope to continue to be able to vaccinate the members of Clark County throughout the upcoming phases.”
Around 600 people per day should be able to use the site, by appointment only. Currently, the county expects to run the site this Friday through next Tuesday, for a total of 2,400 vaccinations. Should more supply become available, the number of days may be extended.
Everyone receiving a first dose at the site will be automatically scheduled for a second dose appointment.
The news also came on the same day that the state announced K-12 educators and childcare workers in the state are being added to Phase 1B1, effective immediately, following a directive from the administration of President Joe Biden that those workers receive at least a first dose of vaccine before the end of the month.
Public Health also noted they are working closely with community partners to offer appointments at the Tower Mall site to populations who are historically underserved and have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
The announcement comes a day after the county announced it would be receiving over 14,000 first doses of vaccine this week, more than tripling their average weekly allotment.
“The Tower Mall site makes COVID-19 vaccine more easily accessible and provides an opportunity to serve members of our community who are often medically underserved,” said Dr. Alan Melnick, Clark County health officer and Public Health director. “We’re excited to see more opportunities for everyone in our community to get vaccinated.”
The Tower Mall vaccination site is the latest effort of the Southwest Washington Regional Public Health Incident Management Team – a collaboration between Clark, Cowlitz and Skamania counties. The three counties have been working together, and with community partners, since January to develop plans for mobile and fixed-location vaccination sites throughout the region.
For more information about local COVID-19 vaccination efforts and to submit a request for COVID-19 vaccine, visit the Clark County Public Health COVID-19 vaccine webpage or call 888.225.4625. The Public Health call center operates 8 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday.
Walmart offering vaccinations
Walmart also announced this week that they will begin booking appointments for COVID-19 vaccines at their locations in Southwest Washington as part of a joint effort with the Federal government’s Federal Retail Pharmacy Program. Those appointments will begin March 2, and be subject to availability.
“Ninety percent of the country lives within ten miles of a Walmart,” noted Dr. Cheryl Pegus, executive vice president, health & wellness with Walmart. “We want to help the country re-open, but we can only achieve that through widespread COVID-19 vaccination. We’re proud to work together with the federal government, states, communities, customers and associates to expand access to the vaccine and reach that goal.”
The locations that will be administering the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines are:
Walmart Supercenter, 221E NE 104th Ave., Vancouver, WA, 98664
- Walmart Supercenter, 9000 NE Highway 99, Vancouver, WA, 98665
- Walmart Supercenter, 2201 Grand Blvd., Vancouver, WA, 98661
- Walmart Supercenter, 14505 NE Fourth Plain Blvd., Vancouver, WA, 98683
- Walmart Supercenter, 430 SE 192nd Ave., Vancouver, WA, 98683
- Walmart Supercenter, 1201 SW 13th Ave., Battle Ground, WA, 98604
- Walmart Supercenter, 1486 Dike Access Rd., Woodland, WA, 98674
To see if appointments are available, visit Walmart’s website, or download their app.
