DOH Discusses Discrepancy Between State And Federal Vaccine Data

OLYMPIA, WA — The Washington State Department of Health is hoping to clarify a kerfuffle over vaccination rates, and explain the discrepancy between state and federal data.

Some confusion can be attributed to this tweet from White House Senior Advisor on the COVID Response Andy Slavitt, who over the weekend congradulated the Evergreen State on reaching 70 percent of adults with at least one vaccine dose.

That's a notable milestone because Gov. Jay Inslee had previously announced plans to lift all remaining COVID-19 restrictions if 70 percent of Washingtonians 16 and older had begun vaccination.

So why hasn't the state lifted restrictions? Well, a couple of reasons, the DOH says.

First and foremost is that those metrics are different. The White House data shows 70 percent of adults — as in residents who are 18 and older — have had a dose, while Washington is basing the rate on patients 16 and older. In other words, the federal rate doesn't account for patients 16 and 17 years old.

That doesn't explain the full discrepancy, however. According to the DOH, as of Saturday just 64 percent of Washingtonians 16+ have had at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. According to the CDC, 7,843,092 doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered in Washington as of Sunday. DOH data has 7,253,646 doses administered as of Saturday — a difference of nearly 600,000 doses.

The DOH says there are a few reasons for that. One is that the CDC and federal government are given some data that the DOH is not privy to, including data from the Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs and Bureau of Prisons. For example, case count and vaccine data from Joint Base Lewis-McChord is largely restricted, it's not shared with the Tacoma - Pierce County Health Department and only some of that data is passed on to the state DOH.

"DOH is looking into the feasibility of incorporating these aggregate data, but there is currently not a solution," the agency said in a statement. "The state has asked the federal government to share vaccination information from programs at their facilities to accurately paint a picture of how protected Washington communities are, but this information has not been released."

The DOH and federal government also calculate Washington's population differently. According to the DOH, the federal government bases their calculations on 2019 census data. The DOH uses a 2020 population estimate from Washington's Office of Financial Management.

Finally, some Washingtonians may have been vaccinated out of state, meaning their data goes to the state's Immunization Information System, but wouldn't make its way to the CDC's data banks.

So what does that mean for us?

Basically, Washington is in the home stretch, but it hasn't met Inslee's 70 percent goal yet. On May 31, less than 63 percent of Washingtonians 16 and older had had at least one shot of the vaccine. By June 5, that number grew to 64 percent. It has continued to grow in the days since, so we could very well reach that 70 percent milestone soon, the state just isn't there yet. Even if Washington doesn't hit 70 percent, Gov. Inslee has promised to lift all COVID-19 restrictions by June 30 either way.

Related: Washington Will Fully Reopen By June 30 Or Earlier