COVID-19 vaccine distribution update from the Washington State Department of Health

The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) continues to make progress with their COVID-19 vaccine distribution and administration efforts.

Last week, providers across the state began administering initial doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to high-risk health workers, and now, more than 30,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been administered. They are thrilled with this progress in such a short time.

This week, the Department of Health allocated 44,850 Pfizer doses and 127,900 Moderna doses. That includes:

• 153,925 doses distributed to more than 220 sites in 37 counties
• 18,825 doses distributed to support long-term care facilities as well as 14 Tribes and Urban Indian Health Programs

Many of this week’s shipments are arriving today by 4:30 p.m.

Here’s how the allocation breaks down by county this week:

Over the next several weeks, there will continue to be a limited supply of the vaccine. Additionally, the vaccine will not be delivered on Christmas or New Year’s Day. In early 2021, they hope to move to a consistent ordering and delivery pattern to continue the growth of COVID-19 vaccine availability in Washington state.

Vaccine prioritization

Last weekend a key CDC advisory committee voted on vaccine prioritization for later phases. This will help shape who gets the vaccine in the coming months. The federal guidance is the framework for Washington state to decide who will be eligible for vaccine next.  Those prioritization decisions have not been finalized yet here in Washington state. Once those decisions are made at a state level, the information will be shared.

Moderna vaccine

A second COVID-19 vaccine, manufactured by Moderna, was authorized for emergency use in individuals aged 18 and older, by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). The vaccine also passed independent review by medical experts in the Scientific Safety Review Workgroup, as part of the Western States Pact. This is a two-dose vaccine, given 28 days apart. Clinical trial data show the vaccine is about 94 percent effective after two doses.

Washington state placed an order for 128,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine on the morning of December 21. There is no confirmation yet specifying when these orders will be delivered. The first allocation of the Moderna vaccine is 44,300 doses.

The Moderna vaccine will be delivered in a staggered fashion throughout each week, and unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, cold storage and handling are similar to other routinely used vaccines. This will help to distribute the vaccine to many more providers across the state.

Reduced Pfizer vaccine allocation

Regarding our state’s reduced allocation of the Pfizer vaccine: The state learned since last week that prior allocations were inadvertently based on vaccine doses produced — not all of which had yet completed the quality control process. The vaccine cannot be released before quality control is complete. This discrepancy was the source of the change in allocations.

For the foreseeable future, the state will get its allocation on a week-by-week basis. The federal government has shared that the vaccine supply will increase each month. Our state’s allocation of the Pfizer vaccine is 57,525 doses for this week.

Long-term care facility vaccination program update

One long-term care pharmacy, registered through the Department of Health’s COVID-19 vaccine provider program, began vaccinations at several facilities on December 21. The state expects that facilities registered through the CDC’s long-term care program will begin vaccinations on the date previously communicated, December 28. This is the first date the national partnership for the long-term care program could be activated due to the large volume of vaccines needed.

The Department of Health is exploring a dashboard to share vaccine administration data, and until that launches, they will continue to provide vaccine administration updates in their weekly updates.