King County wants vaccine amount to match population

King County Council member Reagan Dunn proposed legislation that would request the state of Washington to increase the number of COVID-19 vaccines allocated to King County.

Dunn questions the amount of vaccine the Department of Health plans to give King County. He said it should be 30% because King County has 30% of the state’s population.

“The state has announced, somewhat curiously, that they’re going to only issue King County between 23-25% of the vaccine statewide. The problem with that is King County represents just over 30% of the state population,” said Dunn.

Swedish announced it would have to pause its vaccination clinic at Seattle U after its vaccine allocation was sent somewhere else.

“It would allow places like Swedish to be able to vaccinate because there’d be more vaccine coming into those facilities and into the arms of people who need it,” said Dunn.

Gov. Jay Inslee addressed the concerns of King County during a news conference on Tuesday.

“I checked on this today, King County has actually received about 32% since the origination of the program. They’re about 30% of the population,” said Inslee.

KIRO 7 asked Public Health Seattle and King County how much vaccine King County is receiving and was told the amount is 25.5% of the state’s allocation. Public Health stated it is still working to clarify this with the state.

On Tuesday, the University of Washington School of Nursing held a vaccination boot camp. It was a chance to train nursing, medical, pharmacy and dental students to administer the COVID-19 vaccine.

“A lot of the vaccine efforts are restricted. They don’t have the manpower they need, being able to provide trained, qualified vaccinators. To expand vaccination efforts is really important in our community right now,” said Jocelyn Ludow, the director of simulation at the University of Washington School of Nursing.

For pediatric dental resident Dr. Daniel Walsh, it is a chance to give back. “Anything we can do to speed up the vast need, the demand that we’re faced with right now, I’m happy to be a part of it.”

Cox Media Group