A COVID drive-through test site. (Photo AP / Virginia Mayo, file)
Executive Dow Constantine announced on Friday that King County will establish high-volume community vaccination sites.
See the phases of the COVID-19 vaccine in Washington
The hope is that the sites will be similar to the existing high-volume test locations that the county is already using and make sure that “we hit the ground while the medical staff receives the doses.”
The county will seek to eliminate some of the bureaucracy that would normally present barriers to a plan like this and will instead pay for vaccine distribution sites from its own budget.
“We do not expect all the usual negotiations and contracts, but we expect them to be reimbursed by the state and the federal government if we want to continue our robust response in public health,” Constantine said.
Initially, the focus will be on setting up sites in South King County, where COVID-19 cases are currently the largest in the region, while residents have struggled with “painful health disparities”.
In terms of current timeline, Seattle-King County Public Health expects the first sites to be up and running by February 1st.
This comes as a result of Washington health officials publishing information about the next phase of vaccine prioritization.
Governor Inslee unveils “Healthy Washington”, a regional reopening plan
The first phase, which began in December, includes high-risk health care workers in health care settings, first responders with high-risk care, residents of long-term care institutions and has recently expanded to all other health care workers. health care.
Michele Roberts, assistant secretary-in-chief at the Washington State Department of Health, specified that Phase 1B will have several levels, the first of which includes all people aged 70 and over 50 or older. multigenerational households. Level B2 includes critical high-risk workers 50 years of age or older who work under certain congregation conditions: agriculture; food processing; grocery stores; K-12 teachers and school staff; child care; corrections; prison, prisons or detention centers; public transport; fire; law enforcement.