Kitsap’s COVID-19 clinic won’t open Monday

Kitsap Public Health wasn’t allocated vaccine for the week of Jan. 31 — Feb. 6.

PORT ORCHARD — The good news for Kitsap County this week was that the community COVID-19 clinic that opened Monday, operated by Kitsap Public Health District and the Kitsap County Operations Center, vaccinated more than 2,000 residents in its first week.

The bad news? The clinic won’t reopen on Monday. The state did not allocate any COVID-19 vaccine to Kitsap Public Health District for the week of Jan. 31-Feb. 6, according to the agency.

In a Friday evening news release, Kitsap Public Health stated: “After building positive momentum with a successful first week of operations, we are disappointed to announce that we are not able to reopen the clinic next week.”

The agency was notified Friday evening that the Washington State Department of Health, which allocates shipments of vaccine to health care providers, did not allocate any vaccine doses to the county. Officials said Kitsap Public Health will continue requesting vaccine allocations from the state and will announce clinic openings when they become available.

Despite the disappointing news, the agency stated that the clinic ran smoothly and was able to administer all of the doses it had available last week.

County officials said other health care organizations may have vaccination appointments available. Those interested can call 1-800-525-0127 for more information.