How to access COVID-19 vaccine

Those included in Phase 1a and Phase 1b Tier 1 (B1) are now eligible to be vaccinated (see "How vaccine will be prioritized" section below). Clark County Public Health is working with local health care providers and pharmacies to ensure those who are eligible for immunization can be immunized.

If you are eligible in Phase 1a or Phase 1b Tier 1 (B1) and need help accessing vaccine, please complete a webform. Please only submit a form if you are eligible for vaccine in Phase 1a or Phase 1b Tier 1.

Public Health will forward all requests to facilities in Clark County that have COVID-19 vaccine available. Facilities will contact those who submit requests to set up a vaccination appointment as soon as possible. Wait times will vary. The number of people currently eligible for COVID-19 vaccination exceeds the county's vaccine supply and health care facility capacity. 

Clark County Public Health is working with partners in Southwest Washington to explore opportunities for opening community vaccination sites in order to more quickly vaccinate people. Public Health will update this webpage as additional information becomes available. 

How vaccine will be prioritized

Initially, there will not be enough vaccine for everybody, due to limited supplies. The vaccine will be administered in phases, with those at highest risk getting immunized first and immunization continuing until everyone who wants to be immunized can be immunized. State officials are hopeful that most people in Washington will be immunized by mid-summer 2021.

The Washington State Department of Health is determining the order in which different groups of people will receive vaccine (vaccine allocation). So far, the state has released details for Phase 1a and Phase 1b.

Those in Phase 1a and Phase 1b Tier 1 are now eligible to be vaccinated.

Phase 1a

• Tier 1:
  • high-risk workers in health care settings
  • high-risk first responders
  • patients and staff of long-term care facilities
     
• Tier 2 (after completion of Tier 1):
  • all workers in health care settings

Phase 1b

• Tier 1:
  • All people 65 years and older
  • People 50 years and older who live in multigenerational households
    
    There are two categories of people who are eligible under the “multigenerational household” definition:
     
    1. People who are 50 and older AND are not able to live independently AND are either:
       • Receiving long-term care from a paid or unpaid caregiver OR
       • Are living with someone who works outside the home
          
    2. People who are 50 and older AND are living with and caring for a grandchild.
       
       No one younger than 50 years is eligible, and no one 50 and older who is caring for a partner, friend or child is eligible.
        
• Tier 2 (after completion of Tier 1):
  • High-risk critical workers 50 years and older who work in certain congregate settings: agriculture, food processing, grocery stores, K-12 (teachers and school staff), child care, corrections, prisons, jails or detention facilities (staff), public transit, fire, law enforcement.
     
• Tier 3 (after completion of Tiers 1 and 2):
  • People 16 years or older with two or more co-morbidities or underlying conditions.
     
• Tier 4 (after completion of Tiers 1, 2 and 3):
  • High-risk critical workers in certain congregate settings younger than 50 years old.
  • People, staff and volunteers all ages in congregate living settings: correctional facilities, group homes for people with disabilities, people experiencing homelessness who live in or access services in congregate settings.

Additional guidance on Phase 1a and Phase 1b is available on the Washington State Department of Health website. 

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will issue guidance for later phases, and the Washington State Department of Health will use those recommendations, along with community and stakeholder feedback, to issue updated allocation and prioritization plans.

Public Health will provide updates on this webpage as additional groups are eligible for COVID-19 vaccine. 

Vaccine safety

Vaccine safety is a priority. The process to approve and monitor vaccines has been around for decades. The same process used to develop vaccines for other illnesses, such as measles, mumps and whooping cough, is being used to develop the COVID-19 vaccine.

Since we’re in a pandemic, developing a new vaccine can go faster than normal. No steps are skipped, but some steps happen at the same time, such as applications, trials and manufacturing. COVID-19 vaccines still go through several clinical trials, enrolling tens of thousands of volunteers, to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines.  

Medical experts review the results of the trials. If the data from the trials show the vaccine is safe and effective, the vaccine gets approved. Any vaccines that do not reach the final stages of testing and approval are destroyed.

After a vaccine is authorized or approved for use, many vaccine safety monitoring systems watch for possible side effects. As with other vaccines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will continue to monitor COVID-19 vaccine safety. The CDC created an additional tool, v-safe, to monitor safety and more easily collect information about side effects.

V-safe is a smartphone-based tool that uses text messaging and web surveys to provide personalized health check-ins after a person receives a COVID-19 vaccination. People using v-safe can quickly tell the CDC if they’re experiencing any side effects after getting a COVID-19 vaccine. V-safe also sends reminders what it’s time to get the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Learn more about ensuring the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and the v-safe tool on the CDC website.

How COVID-19 vaccines are made