SEATTLE — As the nation works to meet President Joe Biden’s goal of getting at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to each American by July 4, a tool allows King County residents to see how close each zip code is to reaching that goal.
A map from Public Health – Seattle & King County reveals the county is moving in the right direction when it comes to vaccinations, with some counties still lagging behind.
“We're actually inches away from reaching a major milestone, which is 70% of all eligible adults having received a first dose,” said Ingrid Ulrey, a policy director for Public Health – Seattle & King County. She believes King County’s current vaccination rate is at 67.5%. “So it's pretty notable that here in King County we're ahead of the game, which is really good news,” she said.
As of May 10, the zip code with the highest vaccination rate is 98040, which includes Mercer Island. The data shows 87% of people within that zip code have received at least one dose of the vaccine. The zip code with the lowest vaccination rate is 98047, which includes Pacific. The data there shows only 46% of people in that community have received one dose of the vaccine.
“I think we're at a critical time. We're just about to get to 70% and we know getting from 70 to 80% of our population starting the vaccine series, it's going to be even harder,” said Ulrey. “For people out there who need more information, we urge you to talk with your health care provider. Get the information you need. Reach out to those trusted messengers to get your questions answered, and make time to go in and get vaccinated for you, for your family.”
Ulrey said the data from the map reveals the barriers between who is getting vaccinated and who isn’t.
“When you look at race and ethnicity, which matches with geography, because we have a higher percent population of Black and African American, as well as Hispanic and Latinx in the same geography, a higher percent of the population in South and Southeast King County have overall lower vaccination rates.”
The hope is that more people will get the vaccine by removing barriers, which keep them from getting their dose.
“You know, it's a lot of combined factors that create more challenge. And barriers for people that need to be addressed, to provide people the support as well as the information they need to get vaccinated," said Ulrey. “We've encouraged providers more and more to have open appointments on weekends and evenings and even offering transportation and incentives for people to come out and get vaccinated.”
The information on the map is updated daily by Public Health officials, if you want to check the status of your zip code, click here.