Seattle Pitches Vaccine Plan To Reach 70% Of King County Adults

SEATTLE — Seattle leaders have unveiled an ambitious roadmap to become the first U.S. city to reach 70 percent immunity and help vaccinate 1.26 million adults in King County against the coronavirus.

The Seattle City Council's Public Safety and Human Services Committee hosted a presentation Tuesday from officials with the mayor's office, the Seattle Fire Department and Public Health - Seattle & King County. Tuesday's presentation featured 31 slides and charted out a path toward administering 2.5 million vaccine doses, using clinics, hospitals, new high-volume sites and neighborhood pop-up clinics.

Within Seattle city limits, the proposal aims to scale up infrastructure to provide more than 18,000 doses each day at new mass vaccination centers, while expanding capacity for mobile teams, clinics and other health care providers.

City leaders plotted out two scenarios for reaching the 70 percent vaccination goal: one that it could accomplish by October, and another that would stretch into early 2022. The determining factor in the city's calculations is whether a much-needed boost in federal supplies materializes in time.

Presenters cited a federal commitment for 600 million doses delivered by the end of summer — enough to fully vaccinate 300 million Americans. If a third vaccine candidate, developed by Johnson & Johnson, is approved, another 100 million doses could be shipped by June.

Right now, supply constraints are severe and King County continues to receive shipments well below what it requests each week.

If long-term federal commitments come to fruition, officials estimate efforts can begin to ramp up in the spring and rapidly expand in the summer months. In addition to two planned high-volume clinics in Seattle, staffed by the fire department, the plan would also build capacity at existing providers and new partnership sites.

Related: Washington Has Administered 90% Of First Vaccine Doses

King County currently hosts eight mobile vaccination teams, staffed by local fire departments, with plans to add at least two more. In the current phase, their efforts are focused largely on adult family homes. As eligibility and supply expand, those teams will work to reach other vulnerable residents, including more seniors, people living in supportive housing and those living unsheltered.

According to the King County vaccination dashboard, about 13 percent of the county's population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine, with 3.7 percent fully vaccinated. The county is prioritizing its limited supplies on residents most at-risk, including at two mass sites in south King County.

Find the full presentation via the Seattle City Council and learn the latest about King County's vaccination progress on the public health dashboard.