State Fair Invites Attendees To Come Down, Get Vaccinated

PUYALLUP, WA — Headed to the Washington State Fair this weekend? If you're unvaccinated, your trip to Puyallup might be the perfect time to knock out your shots.

According to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, volunteers at the state fair have been vaccinating around 30 people each day since the fair started back on Sept. 3.

“You can get the vaccine while you enjoy your time at the fair,” said Abiane Collymore, an organizer Ambulnz in Tacoma. “A lot of people are going to be there all at once with their families.”

The fair is home to two vaccine stations at opposite ends of the grounds. One is in the Showplex, the other can be found outside near the rides, the health department said.

If you're still on the fence about vaccination, organizers say you're welcome to come down and talk to doctors about how the vaccines work and which one might be right for you. The stations offer all three vaccines, the two-dose Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and the one-shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

Vaccine recipients also get a special gift to sweeten the pot: everyone who gets vaccinated at the fair gets two free entry passes.

If not for the tickets, health officials are urging visitors to consider vaccination to help support their community.

"Vaccinations are our best defense against COVID-19," wrote the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department's Brett Cihon. "Whether at the Fair or someplace else: Get vaccinated to help stop the spread of this deadly virus."

Even if you're not vaccinated and not interested in getting the shot, you will have to take one COVID-19 safety precaution if you want to visit the state fair: Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department Director Anthony L-T Chen has ordered the fair to require all visitors to wear facial coverings. The precautions are necessary, Chen said, because the county is still in the middle of a record-breaking wave of new COVID-19 infections.

"Our data shows we are experiencing the longest and strongest COVID-19 case increase we’ve seen since the beginning of the pandemic," writes Cihon. "Cases and hospitalizations are rising in Pierce County and across the country, driven by the highly contagious Delta variant."

As of the latest update from the health department, Pierce County had a COVID-19 case rate of 676.7 new infections per 100,000 residents between Aug. 19 and Sept. 1.