Washington State Department of Health sent this bulletin at 12/31/2020 09:47 AM PST
General Updates
CHANGE TO PHASE 1A GUIDANCE Dear Colleagues, We want to give you a heads up about an addition the Department of Health (DOH) will be making to Washington’s 1A vaccine allocation guidance today. We have worked closely with the Governor and his team and Dr. Shah to review and update COVID vaccine related matters in Washington. It is our goal to move vaccine as quickly and efficiently as possible within our state and among our COVID-19 vaccines providers following the prioritization framework for our state. Our framework is informed by ACIP’s and the NASEM’s frameworks and stakeholder engagement within our state over the past few months. Some communities in Washington state have already completed or are very near to completing vaccination of their high risk workers in health care settings as outlined in current DOH guidance. Today, we will be adding a second tier to Phase 1A that allows for the vaccination of all other workers in health care settings once high risk workers are vaccinated. We acknowledge that some communities are still working through Phase 1A and others will be able to move to this second tier of Phase 1A more quickly than others. Across Washington, it is important that health care systems actively reach out to and provide access to COVID-19 vaccination for the community-based health care workforce outside their systems and in their community. This will help the state complete this phase and ensure we have a protected healthcare system. This includes vaccinating other health care providers, school nurses, and behavioral health providers. We are still working to finalize prioritization for Phases 1B/1C and expect to release this guidance shortly after the new year so communities can begin planning outreach and vaccination of these groups next. We appreciate the ongoing partnership with local public health and the healthcare system in supporting this critical aspect of our response and recovery from the pandemic.
VACCINE DISTRIBUTION AND ADMINISTRATION UPDATE As of December 30, 2020, 111,150 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine have been delivered to health care providers in Washington state, and 56,236 doses have been administered. 171,700 doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine have been delivered to health care providers in Washington state, and 13,106 of those doses have been administered. 442 health care facilities are enrolled as COVID-19 vaccine providers, covering all but one county. All counties should have at least 1 COVID-19 vaccine provider within the coming weeks.
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