Health officer wants more shots from healthcare
Published 1:30 am Friday, May 21, 2021
Dr. Gib Morrow, Kitsap Public Health District health officer, is asking all medical providers to consider offering COVID-19 vaccinations at their offices.
In a letter, he says while most in healthcare have elected to be vaccinated, “Now we need to finish the critical work of vaccinating the rest of our community.”
He says more transmissible COVID variants are driving a surge in hospitalizations of younger people. Cases are rising in school age children and young adults, with outbreaks in multiple Kitsap schools and childcare centers. He says the county needs to shift its strategy from mass vaccination sites to pop-up and clinic-based vaccinations.
“We request healthcare providers in all settings: Assess the COVID-19 vaccination status of all patients at every encounter; Discuss COVID vaccination with patients and offer acknowledgement of concerns, advice and support; Offer and provide vaccination immediately at the point of care and time of service for those who need it; and Explore our vaccine and COVID data dashboards at kcowa.us/covid19data.”
He says vaccines are abundant. “If we can administer vaccinations in schools, offices, brewpubs, ferry lines, transit centers and farmers’ markets, we can certainly give them in doctors’ offices, clinics, emergency departments and hospitals.”
He goes on to say vaccine management has been simplified. Preliminary survey data reveals that for people who are not yet vaccinated, the top choice of where they want to receive vaccination is at their doctor’s office. “We suspect that many who are hesitant to receive vaccination would do so if encouraged and cared for by their healthcare provider … Please give them the best advice you can to protect their health and end this pandemic, and then vaccinate them.”
