State sets new daily vaccine goal as COVID-19 cases surge across Washington
Washington state health officials on Wednesday warned that a fourth COVID-19 wave was beginning to take hold at the same time the state ramps up its daily vaccine goal to 90,000, up from the previous goal of 45,000.
The ramp-up might have little immediate effect on rising cases, the officials noted in their weekly COVID-19 briefing.
“Vaccines are absolutely working, and every month of positive progress moves us closer to the normal,” said state Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah. “But we know right now we’re not going in the right direction.”
Too many people remain either not fully vaccinated or not vaccinated at all, with COVID-19 spreading through a broad range of ages among people who have not received vaccines.
Shah noted, “Over 84% of delivered doses in the state of Washington have been administered to Washingtonians. Over 25% of our state population is now fully vaccinated. And our transmission model estimates about 27% of the total population has immunity right now.”
Shah said case rates were increasing in all age groups except for those age 70 and above. That age group also was among the first to receive vaccines in the state.
The B.1.1.7 (UK) variant is now the dominant strain in the state, officials noted, with the P.1 (Brazil) variant also showing explosive growth. The P.1 variant has grown from 34 cases statewide last week to now 116, according to Shah.
Shah said he remained concerned about the transmission and infection potential of new cases because of the variants now circulating.
“The increases (in cases) we’re seeing are in the ages of the teens, 10 to 59,” said Shah. “These do tend to be people that are out and about doing things. There’s obviously less vaccination coverage in that population than in our seniors. We still have three-quarters of Washington that are not vaccinated. And we want to make sure we’re doing everything we can to protect people with those preventive practices, but also to get vaccinated as quickly as possible.”
“We are close to turning the corner in the state of Washington. But we are seeing the beginning of a fourth wave,” Shah said.
Lacy Fehrenbach, Deputy Secretary of Health, said that COVID disease levels in the state are where they were in early November, but that the slope of the increase is not as steep.
“The challenge we’re having right now is we we cannot vaccinate our way out of increasing disease levels,” she said.
Officials blamed the unseasonably warm and sunny weather in part for the increased activities but warned the same measures employed at the start of the pandemic remained just as effective today until vaccination efforts can grow in substantive numbers.
“We are going to have to use the tools that are available to all of us to slow the spread,” Fehrenbach said. “So you know, that is wearing your mask. It’s watching your distance, it’s keeping your social circles small. And that one is really hard for all of us.”
Officials said the supplies were not growing as fast as requested of the federal government, but allocations had been shifted accordingly to make up for the current pause of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as it awaits completion of a U.S. safety review.
The pause was ordered by federal health officials after six reports of blood clot cases involving vaccine recipients in the U.S amid nearly 7 million administered doses.
“We are definitely making sure all providers have Moderna and Pfizer vaccine to use instead,” said Michele Roberts, acting assistant secretary.
This story was originally published April 21, 2021 at 1:52 PM with the headline "State sets new daily vaccine goal as COVID-19 cases surge across Washington."
