2 More Pierce County Vaccine Clinics Set: Registration Full

PIERCE COUNTY, WA — The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department will host two more pop-up vaccination clinics this week.

Update: as of 9:25 a.m. all available slots for both clinics have filled.

The health department announced both clinics Monday night, but didn't provide further details on the clinics until the next morning, when they announced that one would be at Franklin Pierce High in Tacoma, and the other would be at the Washington State Fairgrounds.

At 9 a.m. Tuesday, registration for both events opened, and like past events slots filled quickly. Registration was closed within a half hour.

As with earlier events, these will be free drive-thru clinics, meaning those who manage to reserve spots will receive their shots while they remain in their cars. Anyone who gets her first dose of the vaccine at these clinics will also allowed to schedule her second dose for a later date.

To qualify for these and future events, a resident must be in Phases 1a or 1b1 of the state's vaccination plan. That includes the following:

• Health care workers.
• Medical first responders.
• Residents and staff of long-term care facilities.
• Anyone 65 and older.
• Residents 50 or older and who live in a multigenerational household.

The scarcity of information for the events may be tied to the debacle surrounding registration for Saturday's clinic in Gig Harbor. Registration for that event was so oversubscribed that the 700-plus slots filled up in under half an hour, and issues with the registration system allowed some users to sign up even after slots were filled. Some people got confirmation emails with the wrong time on them, and some didn't get confirmation emails at all.

The health department promised to replace the registration system and will also work on plans to allow phone registration for future events.

Read more: Pierce Health Addresses Issues With Vaccine Clinic Registration

The health department also launched a new email service to better notify the public of upcoming clinics. You can register to receive email alerts about new clinics and sign up for emails about COVID-19 community vaccination clinics.

All five clinics so far have been announced on fairly short notice; that is likely to continue because of fluctuations in vaccine supply, the department said. Email alerts can help residents get ahead of the rush. Announcements of future clinics will be also posted online.