Washington State’s hospitals are thrilled to be receiving about 31,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine early next week. About half of the state’s shipment of 62,400 doses of the vaccine will go to hospitals to protect health care workers caring for COVID-19 patients.
The vaccine will be delivered to nearly 20 hospitals in counties across the state, in allotments of 975, 1950, or 3700 doses of vaccine per location. Hospitals plan to use the full allotment as quickly as possible. Priority groups within hospitals will include intensive care unit and emergency department caregivers and staff.
“We expect these staff will be offered vaccine mid to late next week,” said Cassie Sauer, CEO of the Washington State Hospital Association. “The speed of the Washington State Department of Health’s planning for vaccine deployment has been unprecedented. We appreciate the department and Governor Inslee’s efforts to ensuring vaccine will quickly reach health care workers from our largest cities to most rural hospitals.”
The Friday evening announcement by the FDA of an Emergency Use Authorization of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is a major step forward in ending this pandemic.
“We believe in the careful review done by scientific and clinical experts. In addition to FDA approval, Washington is part of the Western States Pact,” Sauer said. “The approval of the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup will add an extra vote of confidence in the vaccine’s safety and efficacy.”
Getting to the stage of having a safe and effective vaccine against this virus is a huge step and provides a light at the end of the tunnel. It will still be some time before COVID-19 vaccines are widely available. Until then, all of Washington State’s hospital leaders urge the public to continue wear masks, avoid travel and gatherings, maintain physical distancing and wash their hands to protect themselves, their families, and their frontline caregivers.
If you would like to talk to the Washington State Hospital Association this weekend for more information about vaccine distribution, contact Beth Zborowski at bethz@wsha.org or by calling at 208-412-3886.
Hospital Status Briefing – Monday, December 14 at 11:00 a.m.
Monday, December 14 at 11:00 a.m. the Washington State Hospital Association will hold the first in a series of weekly press briefings to provide an update of the general status of hospitals as COVID-19 continues to surge across the state. WSHA Chief Executive Officer Cassie Sauer will be joined each week by two to three additional representatives of the hospital community from across the state. This briefing is for media only. If you would like to join the briefing, please register by visiting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86573424225.
