Media Contact: Kelli Hawkins | khawkins@srhd.org | (509) 324.1539, c (509) 994.8968

Spokane, Wash. - The Washington State Department of Health announced today that some vaccination appointments at the Spokane Arena Mass Vaccination Site are being rescheduled over the coming week due to weather delays of vaccine shipments and due to scheduling changes at the mass vaccination site.

Appointments scheduled at mass vaccination site for February 19-20:

Due to weather delays that have impacted vaccine shipments nationwide, people who have scheduled vaccine appointments at the Spokane Arena vaccination location tomorrow, Friday, February 19, and Saturday, February 20, will be receiving an email and/or text message today from the Spokane Arena mass vaccination site with a new date and time window next week to get their COVID-19 vaccine. People should be assured that their appointment still stands and they will get their vaccine, only the date and time need to be rescheduled due to this weather delay.

Appointments scheduled at the mass vaccination site February 21-22:

With changes to the operating schedule at the mass vaccination site at Spokane Arena, people who have appointments that were scheduled for this Sunday, February 21 or Monday, February 22 will be receiving phone calls from DOH to reschedule those appointments for later in the week when the location is open. The Spokane Arena mass vaccination site currently operates Tuesday through Saturday.

DOH staff are calling these patients directly. The DOH caller will already know the date and time of the original appointment and will only be rescheduling. Patients should be assured that they still have an appointment and will not lose their opportunity to get their second vaccine dose. They will not be asked for personal health information and will only be asked to verify identity with date of birth and confirm contact information in order to send the updated appointment time to the patient.

When DOH calls to reschedule appointments, they will ask the following questions:

• Date of birth to confirm identify
• Email address to send updated appointment information
• They will not ask for financial or other personal identifiable information

If a patient feels uncomfortable, or wants to verify the caller is “real," they should call the DOH COVID-19 hotline at 1-800-525-0127 and press # to talk to a representative. DOH will direct the patient to the correct phone number to confirm their rescheduled appointment.