Providers are already moving past the first phase of giving a COVID-19 vaccine to health care providers and first responders, and are moving on to giving shots to those in senior housing.

About 110 assisted living residents – considered the highest-risk group – recently received Moderna at Bainbridge Senior Living as Madrona House, Madison House and Wyatt House received their first doses.

Bainbridge Prepares organized the event and Bainbridge Island Community Pharmacy provided the vaccine. Health care providers Dr. Fred Walters and Shannon Fitzgerald, who are part of the Medical Reserves Corp for BI, administered the vaccines to the three BSL sites.

Walgreens, one of two federally contracted pharmacies, was slated to provide the vaccine. But it had no timeline on when their vaccines would arrive, so BSL took a different route. Assisted living communities nationwide are having similar problems, Walters said.

“Without BI Prepares we would have been waiting many weeks before our 110 very high-risk residents could have been vaccinated,” said Morgan Rohrback, president and CEO of BSL. “Being able to speed up vaccinations with this nimble group is a gift for sure – and a relief.”

She added she’s disappointed with the federal pharmacy process.

“We were contracted with Walgreens, which has given us very limited information and zero scheduling timelines.”