Dear BAA Patients and Members of Our Community,
Starting on April 3, 2023, our mask mandate has been lifted; patients will no longer be required to wear masks at Bellingham Asthma & Allergy.
Our primary aim is to ensure that all our patients feel comfortable and safe when they’re visiting our clinic. We understand that there are many different feelings about face masks in the public setting.
Our providers are happy to wear a mask during your appointment if that is your preference. And, out of respect for the health of all our patients and our staff, we ask that if you are not feeling well, you wear a mask or reschedule your visit to a telehealth appointment.
We continue to keep our clinic clean as always and have high efficiency air filters running in our waiting room to prevent the spread of airborne illnesses.
Sincerely,
BAA Providers and Staff
The providers at Bellingham Asthma & Allergy Clinic recommend that eligible people receive a COVID-19 vaccine. BAA is proud that we are a 100% fully vaccinated workplace. For the health and well-being of our patients, we hope that they too get vaccinated.
You can find a vaccine site using the locator tool:
Based on the currently available data, the following two vaccines are recommended:
Before receiving Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA, over 110,000 people participated in US clinical trials. Since that time, more than 342 million doses of vaccine have been administered through July 2021.
Safety has been demonstrated across a broad range of the populations, including different ages, races, and ethnicities, as well as those with different medical conditions.
Long-term side effects from the vaccine are unlikely. Vaccine monitoring from other vaccines has shown that most side effects occur within 6 weeks of receiving a vaccine.
The most commonly reported side effects include:
Most side effects resolve within a day or two of receiving the vaccines.
There have been reports of allergic reactions in some individuals after receiving the vaccines. Whether these are true allergic reactions or allergic-like reactions remains unknown. At this point, the rate of reaction is low and thought to be less than 5 reactions per million vaccines given. Other vaccines are also known to cause reactions at similarly low rates of about 2 per million.
Individuals with common allergies to medications, foods, inhalants, insects and latex are not at higher risk than the general population to have an allergic reaction to the COVID vaccines.
If you regularly take asthma an allergy medications including antihistamines, inhalers or other therapies, you should continue these medications on the day of vaccination.
There are very few people who should not receive the COVID vaccine. The only medical conditions in which someone should not get the vaccine is an individual who:
If you have had allergic reactions or anaphylaxis within 4 hours of receiving other (non-COVID) vaccines or other injectable medications, the CDC recommends that you can still likely receive the COVID vaccine, though additional precautions are recommended:
The providers at Bellingham Asthma & Allergy believe strongly in the safety and the effectiveness of the currently available COVID-19 vaccines, particularly Pfizer and Moderna.
As above, there are very few medical reasons why an individual would not be able to receive a COVID vaccine, thus there are limited reasons why a medical exemption would be warranted.
If you believe that you meet the above criteria (allergic reaction to first COVID vaccine injection or history of PEG allergy), please contact our office for more information.
Please be aware that medical exemptions would only be provided to current patients– those seen at BAAIC within the last 3 years.
Public health and medical experts have recommended booster shots to certain individuals including adults 65 years of age and older, adults 18 years of age and older with medical conditions or whose job places them at risk of COVID exposure.
Guidelines for booster vaccination are being updated frequently. Please see the CDC COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Shot information page for up-to-date recommendations.
The providers at Bellingham Asthma & Allergy recommend that all adults who are eligible to receive a booster vaccination get one to reduce their ongoing risk of COVID-related disease. We also recommend that those who initially received the J&J vaccine receive either a Moderna or Pfizer booster.
Return patient have the option of being seen:
Telephone
360-733-5733
(24 Hours)
Fax
360-733-1859