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COVID-19

Appointments to get one of 3,000 vaccine doses at Spokane Arena can be made starting Wednesday

This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus causes COVID-19.  (HOGP)

The Spokane Arena mass vaccination site, set to open Wednesday, received 3,000 Moderna vaccine doses Monday.

CHAS Health is leading operations at the Spokane Arena; appointments will open online on CHAS’ website Wednesday.

Washington residents who are health care or frontline workers, 65 and older, or 50 and older and living in a multigenerational household are eligible to be vaccinated.

Local health officials are asking residents to first contact their health care providers to see if they can get vaccinated through their doctor’s offices, but the Spokane Arena site is open to everyone who meets the eligibility requirements, including those without health insurance or health care providers.

Residents must make an appointment online first to get vaccinated at the Spokane Arena; the site is not offering walk-up appointments.

CHAS is asking patients to take the state’s Phase Finder eligibility survey and bring proof of their eligibility to their vaccine appointment, as well as photo identification and insurance information if they have it.

The site will be open seven days a week once it is operational: Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the weekends.

Washington National Guard and CHAS staff will be vaccinating people at the arena, and the Spokane Regional Health District is providing logistical support.

Since the site received Moderna vaccine doses, they will be stored on-site at the Arena.

State health officials have set a goal for sites to provide 500 vaccinations per day, but in the beginning, they said, this may be difficult to reach amid logistical issues likely to arise in the first days.

The state plans to initially make a limited number of appointments available in order to ensure sites are prepared, and it is possible the mass vaccine site might reach its capacity in the first week of operation. Statewide, there is higher demand for vaccines than current federal supply chains are offering to the states, meaning many people will have to wait if they are unable to secure an appointment this week.

CHAS will make as many appointments available as they have doses, with the goal to adhere to the state goal of administering 95% of their doses within their first week of operations. More appointments will be made available based on future shipments, which currently hospitals and other vaccine distributors report they learn about only a day or two before those doses arrive.

More information about the Spokane Arena vaccine site will be available on Tuesday.

Here’s a look at Monday’s numbers:

The Spokane Regional Health District confirmed 63 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, the lowest daily count recorded since Oct. 26. During the weekend, the health district confirmed 334 cases, however.

There are 105 patients being treated for COVID-19 in Spokane County hospitals. The district confirmed an additional 10 deaths over the weekend, and 478 people in Spokane County have died from the virus.

The Panhandle Health District confirmed 258 cases of COVID-19 over the weekend and on Monday, as well as three additional deaths.

There are 53 residents from the five-county region hospitalized with the virus.

Arielle Dreher's reporting for The Spokesman-Review is primarily funded by the Smith-Barbieri Progressive Fund, with additional support from Report for America and members of the Spokane community. These stories can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper’s managing editor.