Local

Inslee: Trump to answer for COVID-19 vaccine reserve deception

Earlier this week the Trump administration criticized states for being too slow to use the vaccine, and promised to send the stockpile of second doses to speed things up.

However, The Washington Post reported on Friday the stockpile does not exist. Gov. Jay Inslee responded to the report on Twitter, writing, “It appears now that no reserve exists. The Trump (administration) must answer immediately for this deception.”

The Washington Department of Health spent the day trying to figure out what it means for our state.

“We understood there was a strategic reserve and that it would be released very soon,” said Lauren Jenks, Assistant Secretary for Environmental Public Health at the WA Department of Health. Instead, the state was told by Operation Warp Speed to expect the status quo. “That indicates we should be receiving about the same amount of vaccine we’ve been receiving in previous weeks in upcoming weeks here, I certainly hope that’s true.”

The state says it makes planning very difficult. Jenks says the state plans to move on to Phase 1B1 within several days.

To find out in which phase you are eligible to get vaccinated, you can use Phase Finder.

>> https://form.findyourphasewa.org/210118771253954

>> https://www.doh.wa.gov/Portals/1/Documents/1600/coronavirus/VaccinationPhasesInfographic.pdf

That would make 1 million more people eligible for the vaccine. “A million more people ready and we get 100,000 doses a week. You can see that’s going to take us a long time, and if we’re able to get more doses in, of course we can speed that up,” explained Jenks.

The state had hoped it would move through Phase 1B1 in four weeks, but without extra doses it could take 10 weeks. That means it would be the end of March before moving on to the next group, which includes high-risk critical workers.