VIDEO: As city celebrates COVID-19 vaccination milestone, mayor thanks West Seattle on hub’s closing day

| Coronavirus | West Seattle news

(WSB photos, video)

2:37 PM: With hours to go until the city’s West Seattle vaccination hub at Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex closes, firefighters and others working there had a celebratory barbecue lunch.

They also got a visit from Mayor Jenny Durkan, who said Seattle has become the first city in the U.S. to have 70 percent of its eligible population fully vaccinated, and thanked West Seattleites for their part in it:

The Seattle Fire acting captain who’s been heading the testing and vaccination program, Brian Wallace, was there too:

He told us the site has given 51,000 shots and done 80.000 tests (it began, you might recall, as a test site). It’s open until 5:30 pm (2801 SW Thistle) if you suddenly decide it’s finally time to get vaccinated. The city’s closing its Rainier Beach and Lumen Field vaccination hubs too but continuing with the drive-thru site in SODO as well as Mobile Vaccination Team pop-ups (including one coming up soon in Delridge – stand by for details).

6:30 PM: We went back just before official closing time at 5:30 pm. They told us 245 vaccinations had been given on this last day. And then, it was time for breakdown:

Somebody played farewell-themed songs on a speaker as the work went on.

Karen June 9, 2021 (3:15 pm)

THANK YOU to SFD and all volunteers for all your hard work to make this site successful 👍👍

HS June 9, 2021 (3:59 pm)

And another Thank You! I received my vaccination there after waiting in line, on several different days, hoping to fill a no-show appointment. After my sister and a friend my age tested positive, I was so grateful to finally receive the vaccine. This location made all the difference.

anonyme June 9, 2021 (5:18 pm)

Thanks, SFD – you were great. Handsome, too!

Bandana June 9, 2021 (5:31 pm)

Prior to this vaccination hub, West Seattle had some of the lowest rates of vaccination in the city. Today it has some of the highest. Thank you!

Time to open June 9, 2021 (5:32 pm)

This is great news. So based on this 70 percent number plus a large number of the unvaccinated having already had the virus and therefore having natural immunity, it looks like we should open everything up to full capacity and completely end the mask mandate. Let’s do it now and not wait until June 30th. The pandemic is over, time to get back to normal!

East Coast Cynic June 9, 2021 (6:51 pm)

the potential problem with the unvaccinated is that the combination of the ones that get it and become symptomatic or asymptomatic may end up becoming incubators that create a variant or variants that evade the immunity generated by the vaccines. But so far so good. Hopefully I’m wrong.
Snuffy June 9, 2021 (6:54 pm)

Looks like they’re keeping the masks and state of emergency but telling everyone to get back to work per inslee’s announcement today
WS98 June 9, 2021 (8:15 pm)

@Time to Open… I’m jonesing to head into a normal state too but sadly the pandemic isn’t over. Children under 12 can’t even get vaccinated And we don’t have hers immunity yet…so we can’t really relax yet.
smittytheclown June 10, 2021 (10:27 am)

Agree 100%. Other states with lower vaccination rates are open. Heck, I watched the Islander game at MSG the other night. Packed. No masks. The numbers for children under 12 getting sick are infinitesimal to the point that if we use these numbers to dictate when we open we might as well stay shut down forever. This is not going away. There will always be new variants. We need to live with it forever. Get vaccinated. Lose the mask (if able) Let’s roll!

Katherine June 9, 2021 (7:59 pm)

Have they discontinued testing, too?

WSB June 9, 2021 (9:11 pm)

The city-run testing ended a long time ago. There is a self-test trailer remaining there – you do the test, a UW Health person observes:
https://westseattleblog.com/2021/05/covid-19-testing-returns-to-west-seattle-hub/

DEF June 9, 2021 (8:47 pm)

Thank you, SFD! This site made a big difference, both for my family and for many others.

Katherine June 9, 2021 (9:10 pm)

Are they closed for testing also?

Red June 9, 2021 (9:13 pm)

I was so incredibly impressed by how well run the West Seattle vaccination site was! I showed up early and prepared myself for a long wait…nope, in and out in under 5 min. My friends in other cities had long waits outdoors in snow and lines without proper distancing. Kudos to everyone involved!

1994 June 9, 2021 (10:42 pm)

The West Seattle site was excellent! and the staff working there were also excellent!! I was so happy we didn’t have to leave WS to get the vaccine or go wait in a huge line. I hope if we need boosters in a year or so they will plan for this WS site again.