State hopeful vaccinations will ramp up in new year

The state Department of Health reported on Wednesday that 59,491 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered across Washington. That’s out of the 356,650 doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that have been delivered to Washington.

The effort has a long way to go if every 7.6 million Washingtonians were to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

In a news conference on Wednesday, the DOH said most people have questions about the prioritization and where they sit in the line.

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Lacy Fehrenbach, Deputy Secretary of Health, said there are some health communities where nearly all of their identified high-risk health care workers are vaccinated as part of the 1A Phase. The state, on Wednesday, added a second tier to the 1A phase that allows for the vaccination of all other workers in health care settings, once those high-risk workers are vaccinated.

“This will help us protect more of our health care system so that they can protect us in our communities,” Fehrenbach said.

The DOH is working on the prioritization of the 1B and 1C phases, and beyond, and promises to have that information within the next week. The information and how the state came to its decisions will be posted on the DOH’s website.

Meanwhile, Michele Roberts, Acting Assistant Health Secretary, said the state expects 57,500 more doses from Pfizer and 44,500 more doses from Moderna this week. She said 43,375 doses will go to 87 sites in 26 counties and 58,650 doses will go to long-term care facilities, and 17 tribes and Urban Indian Health Programs.

Additionally, Walgreens and CVS pharmacies are kicking off on-site vaccine clinics for long-term care residents and staff.

“Our goal is to vaccinate millions of people in 2021,” Roberts said. “That’s going to take a lot of coordination and fast action on all of our parts.”

Roberts explained that there are many challenges in rolling out a national vaccination effort on a local level.

“It takes a tremendous amount of community planning,” she said. “Right now, we don’t have a predictable delivery schedule from CDC. We’re really working with the CDC to get there — that’s their goal.”

Roberts explained it’s a challenge for some local health care facilities to receive large quantities of vaccine at once. For example, Moderna deliveries arrived on Christmas Eve.

Some of the logistics and timing are challenging, but Roberts expects that will smooth out after the holiday weekend and into the new year. She said the DOH is working with local communities to help them quickly roll out vaccination programs.

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While the COVID-19 vaccine might provide some hope, the new state Secretary of Health, Umair A. Shah, said if you’re thinking of the pandemic like a football or basketball game, we’re at halftime now.

“The second half includes vaccines,” Shah said. “So the good news is we have now started to see vaccines in the state of Washington and across the country.”

As for the COVID-19 variant that is now in Colorado and California, Fehrenbach said the state has been and continues to send in samples taken from positive COVID tests for sequencing to “find the genetic fingerprint.” That’s how they find variants and track transmission.

“As of right now, there are no known cases in Washington state,” Fehrenbach said.

She said the DOH is on heightened alert for any positive cases among travelers to areas where the variant has been identified, such as the UK and South Africa.

“The good news is, in addition to tracking this, we know how to slow the spread of this variant and all variants of COVID-19,” Fehrenbach said.

Travelers to areas where the variant has been identified are required to quarantine for 14 days when they arrive in Washington state. Per federal policy, they’re also required to prove a negative test before boarding a plane to the United States. That’s all in addition to the travel advisory in effect for any travelers to Washington state, which asks all travelers to quarantine for 14 days after any travel across state lines.

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