Clearing the confusion: When can you get vaccinated in Washington state?
When can I get the COVID-19 vaccine? The answer is probably sooner than you think.
Gov. Jay Inslee has acknowledged the state faces a mandate set by President Joe Biden for all adults to be eligible for the vaccine by May 1. This week, the state Department of Health confirmed Washington would adhere to the target date.
While that means everyone 16 and over will be eligible by May 1, that does not guarantee the state will have enough vaccine by that time.
“We know that May 1 all Washingtonians by the age of 16 will be eligible,” said state Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah during a Thursday news briefing. “We still have demand with even the groups that are currently eligible.”
He added: “We don’t want to open up to everyone until we’ve been able to actually continue down that road.”
Other groups have already qualified in the state, or are on track to qualify before May 1.
Here’s who can get the shot now and when you’ll be eligible.
Qualified now
Age: Everyone 65 years and older
Health: Pregnant people 16 years or older and people who have a disability that puts them at high risk for severe COVID-19.
Where you live: Long-term care facility residents, all people 50 years or older in multigenerational households.
Where you work: Health care workers, first responders, educators and staff for pre-K through 12th grade, child care providers.
Also eligible are high-risk critical workers who work in certain group setting including agriculture, fishing, food processing, grocery stores, correctional facilities and public transit.
Eligible on March 31
Age: Everyone 60 years old and older.
Health: Anyone 16 years or older with two or more underlying health conditions becomes eligible. These conditions are referred to as comorbidities in the technical speak of the medical and health world.
A morbidity can include heart disease, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, kidney disease, cancer and other serious illnesses and diseases. The CDC has a detailed list of qualifying conditions for the March 31 group: https://bit.ly/3vZR8P5
Where you live: People living in group settings become eligible. Those include correctional facilities like prisons. It also includes group homes for people with disabilities and people experiencing homelessness who live in group facilities or access services in group setting.
Where you work: People who work closely together. That includes restaurants, manufacturing and construction.
Eligible on May 1
Qualifiers no longer apply as everyone age 16 and older will become eligible for the vaccine. Vaccine allocations to the state are expected to be more robust than they are currently, and there is a chance this group’s eligibility date might move up if supplies allow and the state determines that demand has slowed to the point of allowing that to happen.
Among the vaccines available, only the Pfizer vaccine is allowed for those ages 16 and up. Both Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines require people to be at least 18, according to the current emergency use authorization standards allowed by the FDA.
Additionally, Pierce County Emergency Management is working on a permanent vaccination site, to be ready by May 1, according to Mike Halliday, public information specialist for the department.
“It is still early in the process of getting the site established,” he noted. “Pierce County Emergency Management remains committed to scaling its program up as more vaccine becomes available so more people can get vaccinated as the state’s Phase Finder system expands.”
While several other states have already moved up their vaccine timelines, state officials are sticking with the May 1 date as the date for everyone to start looking for a vaccine.
“As long as we know that people are getting vaccinated in the appropriate groups, we’re going to continue to go that route, knowing that in five weeks ... everybody by the age of 16 will then be eligible. And so, from our standpoint, this is the right strategy,” Shah said Thursday.
For more information
▪ FindYourPhaseWA.org to check eligibility.
▪ Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department vaccine hotline: 253-649-1412. The call center is open 8 a.m.- 4:30 p.m., 7 days a week.
▪ Pierce County vaccine hotline: 253-798-8900 or email pcvaccine@piercountywa.gov for help.
▪ To sign up for notifications of mass vaccine events: tpchd.org/notify. The health department does not send direct registration links to subscribers of this list; it is only for advance notifications.
▪ To find local mass vaccine events and registration links: tpchd.org/vaxtothefuture, piercecountywa.gov/7096/Covid-19-Vaccine-Information.
This story was originally published March 25, 2021 at 12:14 PM with the headline "Clearing the confusion: When can you get vaccinated in Washington state?."
