Gov. Jay Inslee announced Monday an effort to speed the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine across Washington that includes lowering the current threshold for those eligible to people 65 years old and up. There will also be a major new push from Washington’s department of health to coordinate statewide vaccinations — especially in a “high throughput” core across Snohomish, King, and Pierce Counties.
The changes come amid hope of a nationwide acceleration with the National Guard and FEMA deploying across the country to establish clinics. The federal government says it has distributed more than 31 million doses of vaccine around the country but so far only about 12 million doses have been administered. The Biden administration will also invoke the Defense Production Act to “maximize the manufacture of vaccine and vaccine supplies for the country.”
Washington’s vaccinations have reached around 201,000 people — around 41% of the prioritized population in the state’s first tiers focused on health system workers and high-risk seniors — but far fewer than had been planned by this point and a pace that officials said must be ramped up given worries of increasing spread of COVID-19 and variants.
The state’s new goal is to reach 45,000 people a day — nearly twice as many as are being vaccinated against the virus now.