||| FROM BRENDAN COWAN for DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT |||
San Juan County Health & Community Services Director Mark Tompkins is featured in a recent video Q&A addressing the COVID-19 vaccine topic:
Thank you.
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Thank you for a very clear explanation as to why we are so frustrated about getting a vaccine. The
problem at this point is not enough vaccine available to us here.
Thanks Mark, well done and answered my questions. Thanks for all the hard work you and your staff have put in.
Mark…Thank you for the attempt to give us an update on what is happening at the county level. Unfortunately, your explanation does not address the most serious problem facing the roughly 5,000 seniors attempting to get the vaccine. That most serious problem is uncertainty. Using a registration system that adds to the frustration of that uncertainty doesn’t help. In fact, uncertainty is multiplied each time we attempt to beat an unknown clock to win one of the urgently desired reservations. This should be a solvable problem. Information can help ease frustration. For example, the county website addressing the vaccine usually contains outdated information or lacks specific information. It would be useful to know how many people actually completed Step 1 of the registration process. It would also be useful to know how many doses you receive each week before people are asked to do Step 2. How many are distributed to each island? How many doses are now being distributed by providers on each island? Please give us timely information so that we can plan accordingly.
Thank you, Mark Hopkins, for your abundant explanation and reassurance. In typical islander’s style, you went above and beyond what was required to convey in a friendly and confident way that while vaccinations are happening very slowly, progress is being made. This is in stark contrast to the messaging from SCCA in Seattle, which bluntly states: “Due to vaccine shortages, SCCA is not scheduling any new vaccine appointments right now. Please do not call your care team about getting vaccinated.”
So, we may think we’ve been forgotten out here on the islands, but rest assured the problem is widespread, including in hospital and clinical settings, where people at high risk are having to wait it out, just like we are.