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4th Quarter - October 2024

Respiratory Illness Season is Upon Us! As we enter into respiratory illness season, below are the charts of COVID, flu, and RSV activity in Whatcom County for the 2023-24 season. To access this and other respiratory illness-related data or information, please visit Respiratory Virus Data Dashboards | Whatcom County, WA - Official Website.

Illustrated in the table above, each respiratory illness peaks differently, but cases remain present throughout the duration of the late fall/winter/and early spring months. As we are all familiar with, the best protection against these and other illnesses is frequent hand washing, staying home when you are feeling any symptoms of illness, and vaccination.

COVID/Flu/RSV Vaccine Access in Whatcom County

For the past few weeks, WCHCS has been reaching out to our local provider offices and pharmacies to gain an idea of respiratory illness vaccine access in Whatcom County. Below are Whatcom County pharmacies who carry the COVID, flu, and/or RSV vaccines and details about their access to vaccines. If you have patients or community members seeking these vaccines, feel free to send them to the following locations:

For facilities and organizations seeking on-site vaccine clinics for COVID, flu and/or RSV, below are the Whatcom County pharmacies who are able to host off-site clinics and details about how to access this:

• Haggen
  • Request at albertsonscompanies.com
• Hoagland
  • Minimum attendance of 25
  • Contact carries@hoaglandpharmacy.com to request
• Rx Mart
  • Contact Kamal at rxmartpharmacy@gmail.com to request
• Safeway
  • Minimum attendance of 50
  • Call a Safeway pharmacy location to request
• Sumas Drug
  • Minimum attendance of 10
  • Call Sumas Drug to request

Some additional pharmacies may be able to help with off-site clinics by request, call the pharmacy to inquire about specific events.

• Costco
• Custom Rx Shoppe
• Fred Meyer
• Nooksack Valley Drug
• Rite Aid

If you have additional questions about access at any of the above-listed pharmacies, please feel free to contact them directly for further information.

Immunize WA Whatcom County Awardees!

Congratulations to Whatcom County’s Immunize WA 2024 Winners! Immunize WA recognizes provider offices who have achieved excellence in vaccine coverage rates for their patient populations in several categories. Whatcom County’s winning provider offices are:

• Childhood Immunizations – Percentage of the clinic’s 24-35-month-old patients who are up to date with 4 DTaP, 3 Polio, 1 MMR, 3 Hib, 3 Hep B, 1 Varicella, 4 PCV, 1 Hep A, 2 Rotavirus, and 2 doses of Flu (HEDIS Combo 10).
  • Bronze (70% and above coverage rates)
    • North Sound Family Medicine (86%)
    • Bellingham Bay Family Medicine (86%)
    • Whatcom Family Medicine (78%)
    • Squalicum Family Medicine (77%)
    • Ferndale Family Medical Center (77%)
    • Family Health Associates (76%)
    • Sea Mar Everson (74%)
    • Sea Mar Bellingham (72%)
• Adolescent Immunizations – Percentage of the clinic’s 13-year-old patients who have completed 1 Tdap, 1 MCV, and up to date HPV (HEDIS Combo 2).
  • Bronze (70% and above coverage rates)
    • Whatcom Family Medicine (74%)
• HPV Cancer Prevention Award – Percentage of the clinics 9-10-year-old patients who are up to date with 1 dose of HPV.
  • Awarded to clinics with 25% and above coverage rates
    • Chuckanut Family Medicine (43%)

Thank you to each of these clinics for their commitment to vaccination and another congrats on this achievement! For a full list of Washington State Immunize WA Winners, visit Immunize WA Provider Recognition Program Awardees.

WCHCS Upcoming Vaccine Clinics

WCHCS offers a monthly vaccine clinic for children. Children age 18 and younger are able to receive any vaccine in our stock free of charge regardless of their insurance status. Please see our website for full vaccine availability at our clinics.

Our vaccine clinics are held in our clinical space at 2030 Division Street – Bellingham, WA 98226. At this space, there is no WCHCS signage aside from a small sign on the door reading “Vaccine Clinic”. Upcoming clinic opportunities include:

• Tuesday, October 1^st from 3 pm to 6 pm
• Tuesday, November 5^th from 3 pm to 6 pm
• Tuesday, December 3^rd from 3 pm to 6 pm

For these clinics, pre-registration is required to ensure we have adequate vaccine supply to meet the needs of those attending. Those who plan on attending our clinics can pre-register at Immunization Clinics | Whatcom County, WA - Official Website.

What would you like to see in future WCHCS Immunizations newsletters?

We will publish the WCHCS Immunization Newsletter quarterly. Please email us if you have topic suggestions you want to share; we want to properly meet the needs of those receiving our newsletter!

If you know someone who might benefit from this newsletter, please share the subscription steps with them. Using the Notify Me system, you can sign up to get notifications by text or email whenever we publish our Immunization Newsletter:

1. Go the Immunization Newsletter Notify Me link and enter your e-mail address at the top of the page and click “Notify Me Sign In”. Please note, this might be unnecessary if you have done this in your browser before.
2. Click on the envelope and/or phone icon to set notification method preferences.
3. You will get an e-mail or text confirmation from Civic Plus. Click the link to confirm your subscription.

The WCHCS Immunizations Newsletter will come from the same email address, WCHD Immunizations. To limit issues with the newsletter going to your spam folder, add the sending address to your email contacts!

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