Redmond vaccination site on Microsoft campus to focus on highest-risk older adults
Feb 11, 2021, 9:15 AM | Updated: 9:21 am
A patient receives a COVID-19 vaccination on Feb. 4, 2021 in Federal Way, Washington. Swedish Medical Center held a mobile vaccination clinic at the Pacific Islander Community Association of Washington to serve racial and ethnic minority groups disproportionately affected by COVID-19. (Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images)
(Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images)
King County Executive Dow Constantine announced Wednesday that the COVID-19 vaccination site at the Microsoft campus in Redmond will focus on highest-risk, eligible older adults.
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The King County Vaccination Partnership — Redmond will begin administering COVID-19 vaccines this week to eligible Medicaid home-care clients and their caregivers, as well as other highest-risk older adults. Eligible elders and others in the community are being alerted about the availability of vaccines by community organizations and service providers, which will also help schedule appointments.
This afternoon, I announced that a vaccination site at @Microsoft's Redmond Campus will focus on reaching the highest-risk, eligible older adults. The King County Vaccination Partnership will begin administering the COVID-19 vaccine this week. pic.twitter.com/NLCVCQISXk
— Dow Constantine (@kcexec) February 11, 2021
Organizers, per a release from Executive Constantine’s office, are reaching out intentionally to eligible older adults hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic first, including those in the Black, Hispanic/Latinx, Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Ukrainian and Russian communities.
Appointments are not available to the general public at this time.
The vaccination site on the Microsoft campus will be staffed by Overlake Medical Center & Clinics and EvergreenHealth. Overlake’s Chief Operating Officer Tom DeBord told KIRO Radio at the end of January that his hospital was combining forces with EvergreenHealth to provide staff and vaccine to the Microsoft site.
“Overlake and Evergreen would in essence pick our clinics up, move them to the Redmond campus — not duplicate it, we just don’t have the ability to have clinics here and there,” he explained.
DeBord says both hospitals should be able to greatly increase the number of shots they can give because they will have more space, and more help from Microsoft, Starbucks, and other corporate partners.
“I thank our business, health care, and community partners for helping set up our Redmond vaccination site, and I look forward to more partnerships across the region to get vaccines in arms as quickly as supply allows,” Executive Constantine said in a written release. “Public Health has long tackled health care disparities in our community. The vaccine roll-out underscores the importance of identifying and overcoming systemic barriers to getting care to those who need it most. The Redmond site and others will operate in a way that reflects our values of equity and inclusion.”
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Public Health — Seattle & King County will be able to scale up the Redmond location when more vaccine doses become available and the eligibility expands. The state remains in Phase 1B, tier 1, at this time.
The best way to ensure you get a vaccine when you are eligible is to sign up for FindYourPhaseWa.org, and use the Washington State Department of Health’s list and map of eligible providers.
Read King County’s principles for equitable vaccine delivery online here.
