About 94% of state employees complied with vaccine mandate, governor says
Gov. Jay Inslee responded positively Thursday to reports that about 94% of state employees have complied with his vaccine mandate.
The Office of Financial Management released data on vaccination rates among the state workforce on Monday. The data show nearly 91% of the state’s 62,591 employees verified their vaccination status and 3.2% have an approved accommodation.
Inslee said the state lost 2.9% of its workers and the remaining 3.1% are “pending action,” meaning they may be in the process of getting fully vaccinated, retiring, or securing accommodations. He called these percentages “good news.”
“So obviously, not all those (pending action) employees will be separated,” Inslee said. “Many of them are getting their vaccinations, finishing their second dose. So, I’m confident our compliance numbers will only go up.”
On Oct. 14, Inslee said more than 90 percent of workers had received the COVID-19 vaccine, the Olympian previously reported.
The state reports 72.5% of eligible people 12 or older had been fully vaccinated and 78.6% had received at least one dose as of Monday. This percentage includes aggregate data from the Department of Defense and Department of Veteran Affairs.
Inslee said former state employees that departed due to the mandate are eligible to reapply for their old positions if they comply with the mandate. If at some point the vaccine mandate gets rescinded, he said those former workers also may be eligible.
“Clearly there is a situation where we want to end some of the changes we’ve experienced in our life, including masking,” Inslee said. “I believe that we will get to a point to do that ... and the way to do that is to get as many people vaccinated as possible.”
Status of schools
About 89.2%, or 138,847, school district employees across the state have been fully vaccinated in accordance with Inslee’s mandate, according to a Thursday report from the state education department.
Inslee said he also feels encouraged by that number.
“I consider it a success,” Inslee said. “You know, would we like to see 100%? Yes, but they (school districts) are the employer. We are not and they handled this process.”
The Food and Drug Administration may authorize Pfizer doses for 5- to 11-year-olds as early as next week, bringing children one step closer to getting vaccinated. Ahead of this, Inslee said more than 300,000 children-sized doses are on the way to the state.
“I know many families can’t wait to avail themselves of this safe and effective vaccine,” Inslee said. “The state Department of Health is working with schools and healthcare providers in preparation for their approval.”
When asked if he would consider rolling back pandemic-related restrictions once the vaccination rate among K-12 children reaches a certain threshold, Inslee said he may use other metrics.
“We want to look at the rate of the virus in the community,” Inslee said. “Unfortunately, you know the science is just not clear that you can pick today a specific percentage of vaccination and say that will yield X percent reduction in infection rate.”
Pandemic trends
Though COVID-19 case numbers and hospitalizations have declined in recent weeks, Inslee said he is concerned by recent plateauing rates across the state.
“We still have an extremely dangerous pandemic on our hands,” Inslee said. “We’ve got to treat it with seriousness.”
The state’s seven-day case rate per 100,000 people reached 195.9 between Oct. 12-17, according to state data, down from a high of 329.1 per 100,000 between Sept. 7-13 but higher than the 191.3 between Oct. 6-12.
Meanwhile, the state reports hospital occupancy levels across the state have remained at about 91% for over a month.
Though some hospitals have returned to elective surgeries, Inslee said many remain stressed.
“If these numbers would go back and go up or continue even up, besides the inevitable death and disability of COVID, we will continue to see people unable to get elective surgery,” Inslee said.
Referring to the status of pandemic, Inslee said the state has reached a fork in the road and he once again called on all residents to get vaccinated.
“Are we going to accept COVID and allow it to continue to run wild or are we going to continue to fight it?” Inslee said. “Every day, I believe we should fight it. We should not surrender to it. We should continue our efforts to utilize this life-saving vaccine.”
This story was originally published October 29, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
