Nearly 40% of eligible Whatcom residents have not yet received a COVID vaccine booster

Nearly two in five Whatcom County residents who are 12 or older and eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccination booster shot have not yet done so, according to new data released by the Washington State Department of Health Wednesday.

The state, which began releasing booster data on the Washington State Department of Health COVID-19 Data Dashboard on Wednesday, March 2, reported that 60.7% of eligible Whatcom County residents who are eligible have received a booster shot.

The state dashboard on Wednesday listed three new COVID-related deaths among Whatcom County residents, bringing the county’s pandemic total to 270. Of those 16% (43 deaths) have been epidemiologically linked to 2022, The Bellingham Herald’s analysis of state data showed.

As of Wednesday, the state dashboard reported Whatcom County has seen a total of 36,448 total COVID-19 cases during the pandemic, an increase of 102 cases from the last report on Monday, Feb. 28.