CLARK COUNTY, WA (KPTV) – The new Johnson & Johnson vaccine is now in Washington, but folks in southwest Washington won’t be able to get a dose right away. The state says it’s only allocated a small number of the vaccine so far.
The Tower Mall parking lot that already offers COVID-19 testing will become a vaccination site on Friday morning. The county says this is through a collaboration between Clark County Public Health, Safeway and Albertsons.
The site will only have the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines that require two separate shots. The one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine has not made its way to Clark County.
On Thursday, the Washington Department of Health explained that while they have nearly 61,000 doses of the vaccine, only around 12,000 have been distributed. Those have gone to Pierce, Snohomish, Whatcom and Thurston counties.
The state says that is because they immediately wanted to serve orders for counties that did not have enough vaccine for their population. Now they are determining where the rest of that vaccine will go.
The next week of vaccine doses begins on Sunday so the department says the rest of the J&J vaccine will likely be allocated out by Saturday.
Clark County says it is reaching out to people to schedule their appointments at the Tower Mall. They are by appointment only and the site will not accept walk-ins.
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