FERRY COUNTY, Wash – Ferry County Health has now exceeded 1,000 doses of the COVID Vaccine. It’s a major success for a county that serves between about 4,500 people, a proof that the state’s Vaccine rollout plan is starting to take hold. Unfortunately, just as Ferry County’s vaccine plan picked up speed, it hit a brick wall.
Ferry County CEO Aaron Edwards says that their supply of the COVID vaccine from the state has been significantly lowered, and he believes it’s because the COVID vaccines that would have gone to his department, are instead being sent to urban areas, like Spokane, to supply the state’s 4 mass vaccination clinics.
Edwards says that this week they’ll have to largely pause first doses, because their supply will only be enough for the second, booster, dose.
You might think that he’d be frustrated, but he says he gets it. His one concern is that the situation won’t be resolved. Edwards believes that the COVID doses will start balancing out again, once the mass vax sites are supplied. He says public health departments and the state health department are all figuring out the best way to react to this fluid pandemic, and so far he feels the state has been doing a good job. But he wants to make sure that continues.
KHQ has reached out to Governor Inslee’s office, as well as the state health department to see if there has been a reduction of COVID vaccines in rural areas, in support of the vaccine supply in more urban areas.
In the meantime, Ferry County has a phone number set up that people can call to find out information about the COVID vaccine, and when they can sign up. You can call 509-775-8686 to find out that information, if you’re a Ferry County resident.
