Gov. Jay Inslee said he would take a COVID-19 vaccine when eligible. | Facebook
Gov. Jay Inslee said he would take a COVID-19 vaccine when eligible. | Facebook
Washington received its first batches of COVID-19 vaccines on Monday to start administering them to people who are most at risk of the virus.
The state, which was expecting 62,400 vaccines, will provide some of those to frontline workers at UW Medicine, King5 reported. The shipment of vaccines was approved by the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup, which makes sure federally-authorized vaccines are safe.
Frontline workers, such as firefighters, paramedics and ambulance drivers, will also be able to receive the vaccine.
Gov. Jay Inslee, who is currently not eligible to receive the vaccine because he is not most at risk of the virus, said once others are eligible to receive the vaccine, he would receive it himself, King5 reported.
The vaccine is reported as 95% effective, according to testing. But even with the vaccines being sent to the state, Michele Roberts, with the state Department of Health, said the state still needs more vaccines.
"It’s tight right now. 62,000 doses of vaccine is not enough for that whole 1A group, which is at least a half-million people," she told King5.
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