Washington's Next Coronavirus Vaccine Phase: Here's What To Know

OLYMPIA, WA — State health officials on Wednesday released a framework for who will qualify for coronavirus vaccines into the spring months.

Right now, Washington remains in a Phase 1A, recently expanded to a second tier that allows certain regions to begin vaccinating all workers in health care settings, in addition to frontline workers, high-risk first responders, and residents and staff of long-term care facilities.

"Vaccine prioritization decisions are complex, but based in a need for equitable distribution," said Umair Shah, state secretary of health. "Our priority has been to get the vaccine to high-priority people first."

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Here's who will be newly eligible for vaccines under each step of the Phase 1B:

Phase 1B1 - (Tier 1)

• All people 70 years and older
• People 50 years and older who live in multigenerational households

Phase 1B2 - (Tier 2)

• High risk critical workers 50 years and older who work in certain congregate settings: Agriculture; food processing; grocery stores; K-12 (teachers and school staff); childcare; corrections, prisons, jails or detention facilities (staff); public transit; fire; law enforcement

Phase 1B3 - (Tier 3)

• People 16 years or older with two or more co-morbidities or underlying conditions

Phase 1B4 - (Tier 4)

• High-risk critical workers in certain congregate settings under 50 years
• People, staff and volunteers all ages in congregate living settings:
  • Correctional facilities; group homes for people with disabilities; people experiencing homelessness that live in or access services in congregate settings

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The state has yet to pinpoint a start date for Phase 1B, but identified targets for enacting each of its four tiers through April. Wednesday's announcement was accompanied by a new timeline, which aims to unlock a new group each month until May. Plans for vaccinating a wider swath of the public are still in the works.

By March, the state plans to offer vaccines to anyone aged 16 or older with two or more underlying conditions that put them at higher risk for COVID-19 complications. Vaccinations for people experiencing homelessness and people incarcerated in state correctional facilities are included in the final Phase 1B tier, scheduled to begin in April.

The Washington State Department of Health worked in conjunction with Gov. Jay Inslee's office and landed on its plan using federal guidance and input from nearly 20,000 people across the state, officials said Wednesday.

Michele Roberts, the state's lead vaccine planner, said Washington had received a combined 522,550 doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines by Wednesday morning, including about 96,000 earmarked for long-term and skilled nursing facilities.

Roberts said the state was working to address any gaps and improve access to doses where they are needed most.

"DOH's commitment is to saving lives and making sure vaccine is available to all who want it," Roberts said. "We vaccinate 50 to 55 percent of our population for flu over a nine-month period, so we're working to do something that's incredibly unprecedented and hard for all of us. It's a huge launch and a huge challenge to develop the infrastructure to make sure this vaccine is available for all."

State health officials said some counties may be able to move tiers faster than others, and the long-term guidance is meant to help each region to plan a wider rollout in the weeks and months to come. Once they are available, DOH will post additional details on Phase 1B on the state coronavirus website.

The state's Phase Finder tool, which will allow residents to easily check their eligibility status, is now expected to launch for public use on Jan. 18. Using a series of questions, the online portal will determine whether each person meets the standards of the current phase, then connect the user with nearby options for appointments or offer to notify them when they do qualify for vaccination.

Next week, the state also plans to unveil a new vaccine dashboard, created with help from Microsoft, that will detail immunization metrics by county.