Booster shot eligibility, state hospital crunch, help decide new County Council districts, grand opening of new Northgate and two other light rail stations...

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Banner image showing King County Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles.

September 27, 2021

Natl voter reg day

Tomorrow is National Voter Registration Day - - see below for more information.

Dear Friends and Neighbors,  

There was a bit of confusion last week as the FDA and CDC approved the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as a booster for some populations.  CDC Director Rochelle Walensky then overrode the agency’s advisors and decided to include health care workers and others in high-risk jobs in the group of people eligible to receive the booster shot.  Despite some temporary confusion, our state and county health care officials have assured us that we are already ramping up and will be able to provide these additional doses without a problem. See the first item below for more on City and County efforts to ramp up the vaccination effort.

On Thursday, the Council expects to receive the second omnibus supplemental budget for the 2021-2022 biennium from the County Executive.  I’m expecting the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee, which I chair, will take action on November 16th with final passage by the Council on November 23rd prior to the Thanksgiving break.

Much more is included below, including news on our state’s hospital capacity, County districting, opening of new light rail stations and more.  I also wanted to highlight this article from Crosscut: In Seattle, public health resisters have always pushed back . It’s a fascinating look at our City’s history.

As always, I would like to hear from you. You can call me at 206-477-1004 or you can reach me by email at jeanne.kohl-welles@kingcounty.gov.   

All the best and I hope you are staying safe.