Vaccines - a little more clarity today

The state would really like people in Tier 1 to get in and get their vaccines.
Tier B1 is now eligible for vaccines - if they can get an appointment

By Diane Hettrick

Just after yesterday's edition went out, I got more information about vaccine appointments, and there is a little more information today.

The Department of Health warns that if you are eligible for a COVID vaccine:

• Please do not show up at a vaccine location without an appointment. 
• Please be patient, it may take many weeks before a vaccine or appointment is available in your area.
• Call us with questions at 1-800-525-0127 (press #).

King County and Washington state are running on slightly different tracks with an ever so slightly disjoint process.

If you have a relationship with an MD, that doctor will be affiliated with one of the big hospital systems. Some of them started scheduling patients for vaccines on Monday.

They will eventually get around to calling you, but you can jump the line by checking your online account. If you don't have one, now would be a very good time to set one up. They are online electronic records individual to you. You can find your chart notes, and lab results, and ask your medical provider questions - and get fast answers.

I love mine. Sometimes the doctor answers, sometimes a P.A. or nurse answers. I don't care as long as I get the answer. You can schedule appointments on your "echart". Most importantly, you can schedule vaccinations of all types online - or find out that your facility isn't ready yet to administer COVID vaccine.

At 5am yesterday, a night owl friend told me she had just scheduled her vaccination with UW Medicine. My doctor, at Northwest, is now part of the UW system, so I started poking around my "ecare" account. Sure enough, they were scheduling and I now have an appointment for February 4. Another friend keeps more regular hours, so she scheduled when she got up at 10am and ended up with an appointment on Feb 22.

My husband has PacMed. His "MyChart" account has no mention of COVID vaccines.

So who's eligible right now? Anyone over 65. Anyone over 50 in a multigenerational household. The essential workers in the first tier continue to be eligible. 

Virginia Mason is calling their patients and making appointments. If you go to their website "MyNavigator", you can put your name on a waiting list to be called but you can't schedule yourself.

Evergreen Health doesn't want to see you or hear from you. They'll put information on their webpage and contact you when they are ready to schedule.

The state has a list of places where vaccines are being given, but it's still buggy. It crashed and the information is not entirely accurate. I did see several Safeway pharmacies on the list but wasn't able to check local stores. If you are in a Safeway, see if they have information signs at the pharmacies. If you are in Costco, meander by their pharmacy to see if they have notices about scheduling for vaccines.

There are hitches, but at least we are moving forward.