Washington prepares to receive COVID-19 vaccine shipments

The U.S. hopes to vaccinate 20 million people by the end of the year and 100 million people by February.

A vaccine could get emergency use authorization in less than two weeks, and that means Washington’s planning will be put to the test soon.

The state is getting a practice shipment this week of the packaging solution Pfizer uses that requires ultra-cold storage.

It will be sent to an area health department to test that the systems are in place to keep it cold enough.

The state has 20 sites identified where the vaccine can be shipped and stored safely. They will get some of the first 62,000 doses.

So far, the state has 116 providers registered to administer the vaccine.

The state will follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations vaccinating health care workers who care for COVID-19 patients first, and then residents in long-term care facilities.

It will still be months before the general public is vaccinated. Dr. John Dunn, with Kaiser Permanente, is warning people to plan to keep wearing their masks and social distancing for six to nine months.

“We need to get most of the population vaccinated and the deep, dark, difficult truth of that — that’s going to take six to nine months or more to do,” said Dunn. “I think it’s important to know while this is a big step we’re about to take, it’s not going to mean any immediate changes in what we’re asking people to do.”

Cox Media Group