Partnering with Swedish, UW Medicine, First & Goal Inc. and state government, the city of Seattle announced plans to open a mass vaccination site at Lumen Field Event Center in mid-March. According to KIRO 7, the site will be able to initially administer 5,000 doses per week, and potentially increase to 150,000 per week as supplies allow. Seattle Mayor, Jenny Durkan, called opening the site “an important step to significantly increase our vaccination rate in Seattle.”
Appointments at Lumen Field will prioritize BIPOC communities and organizations serving them, as well as older adults, immigrants, and refugees, but people who qualify for the vaccine according to the state’s phase plan will also be able to register. Governor Inslee announced Tuesday that teachers and licensed childcare workers are now eligible to make vaccination appointments, moving them up to Washington’s Phase 1B-Tier 1. According to the Washington State Department of Health website, others who are also currently eligible for the vaccine are “anyone 65 and older, and all people 50 and older who also live in a multigenerational household, health care workers at high risk for COVID-19 infection, first responders, people who live or work in long-term care facilities, and all other workers in health settings who are at risk of COVID-19.”
While the increase of sites like these are a positive push to increase the rates of statewide vaccination, Mayor Durkan says “there’s so much more to be done. Ultimately, it will take all of us – employers, health care providers, philanthropy, unions, nonprofits, community-based organizations, and all levels of government – using all the tools at our disposal to get our community vaccinated equitably.”
