The Vaccines Are Coming
Yesterday's (Feb. 26) COVID-19 vaccine update from the Washington State Department of Health (WSDOH) announced the federal allocation of vaccines for the next three weeks:
- Week of February 28: 279,800 doses (156,640 first, 123,160 second)
- Week of March 7: 285,200 doses (156,640 first, 128,560 second)
- Week of March 14: 313,280 doses (156,640 first, 156,640 second)
Despite the continuing increase in allocation, the State is not receiving enough doses to meet demand. This week, for example, Washington received 173,150 fewer doses than requested. And last week, dose delivery was delayed because of winter storms around the country.On February 11, the State administered a record 44,872 does in one day, which is nonetheless still short of the daily goal of 45,000. And the daily average is far lower, 25,346. The good news is that by February 23, the State had administered more than 1.4 million doses, more than 75 percent of the doses delivered to providers around the state.WSDOH determines which counties get the doses according to seven criteria:
- availability of vaccine,
- county level pro-rata data on race and ethnicity gathered at vaccine administration sites,
- equity,
- site-specific information,
- distribution channels,
- compliance with requirement that all providers use at least 95% of their allocation within a week of receiving it, and
- partner input.
In Kitsap County, 16,479 people are currently fully vaccinated, and more than 51,000 doses have been administered. There are more than 5,700 confirmed cases in Kitsap, and 84 have resulted in death.If the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), and the Scientific Safety Review Workgroup as part of the Western States Pact approve the Johnson & Johnson – Janssen vaccine, the federal government will most likely allocate 60,900 doses of the single-dose vaccine to Washington State. Another change will make more vaccine available: the Pfizer vaccine vials can now be used to administer six doses instead of five, as originally stated in the Emergency Use Authorization Fact Sheet.
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