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More booster appointments becoming available after initial omicron rush

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KING COUNTY, Wash. — With the omicron variant taking hold just before Christmas, people lined up in the rain Wednesday outside a FEMA site on Federal Way for COVID booster shots.

“It took me a couple (of) hours of searching, but I found going closer this way is easier than going closer into the city,” said Julie M., who lives in Burien.

Courtney Swearingen made several appointments, then canceled the ones she didn’t use.

“I had an appointment at Rite Aid, at Kaiser Permanente and here, and I took the earliest one,” she said.

Washington’s Secretary of Health, Dr. Umair Shah, knows some people have been struggling to find appointments.

“We know that vaccines are hard to come by, especially boosters right now because there’s been so much demand,” Shah said.

He said Gov. Jay Inslee directed him to make more appointments available.

Shah said by working logistics and increasing staffing, the site at the Federal Way Performing Arts and Events Center was able to double capacity from 350 shots per day to 700, with an aim of reaching 1,000 per day.

“We have the vaccines,” Shah said. “Vaccine supply is not the issue in this state, it’s about vaccine logistics and especially staffing.”

Vaccine appointments are available in the coming days at the Federal Way site.

Right after omicron emerged during Thanksgiving, UW Medicine had 10,000 people on a waitlist for boosters.

“I’m looking at the waitlist as I speak, and we have three people,” said Nicholas Mah, a senior consultant at UW Medicine.

Mah said UW Medicine is now quickly booking people for the first week of January, and workers are giving 5,000 to 10,000 shots per day.

He said demand has eased for now.

“I won’t be surprised at all if at the beginning of January, we see that demand ramp back up and we’re at the limits of our capacity,” Mah said.

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