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Dear Friends & Neighbors,
This week brought the news that vaccine eligibility will soon be expanded. Starting on March 22nd, Washington State will move to Tier 2 of Phase 1b of vaccine eligibility. Tier 2 includes critical workers who work in certain congregate settings, such as grocery stores, agriculture, schools and child care, corrections, transit, and law enforcement. People over 16 years old who are pregnant or have a disability that puts them at high risk will also be included in this phase. In addition, teachers, school staff, and child care workers were also prioritized by the federal government earlier this week, and all veterans are now eligible to get the vaccine from the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound health care system.
While this expansion of eligibility is hopeful news, Washington State doesn’t expect to see a significant increase in doses for at least the next three weeks. This means that we must continue to be patient for the time being.
Though we can’t predict how quickly the vaccine supply chain will open, the approval of the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine is expected to greatly improve our supply over the next few months, with President Biden announcing that there could be enough vaccine supply to vaccinate all adults in the United States by the end of May.
The future looks promising, and I am cautiously optimistic that our vaccine supply will increase enough to keep us on the new projected vaccine timeline (see image below). As always, I am here to help answer any questions you might have in the meantime. You can reach me at reagan.dunn@kingcounty.gov or 206-477-1009.
Stay healthy,
Reagan Dunn
Vice Chair
Metropolitan King County Council
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