SEATTLE — Washington state is expected to get a boost in COVID-19 vaccine shipments next week as 2 million more people become eligible for the shot.
For the week of March 28, Washington is slated to receive 408,730 doses of the vaccine, according to the Washington State Department of Health (DOH). While this is still 80,960 doses shy of what the state requested, it is an improvement over this week’s allocation – an increase of nearly 50,000 doses.
Of the state’s allocation, 221,130 doses are Pfizer, 144,800 doses are Moderna and 42,800 doses are the single-shot Johnson & Johnson.
After next week, Washington does not have a forecast for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but a DOH spokesperson said that was subject to change.
Starting March 31, Washington will expand COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to include anyone 60 and older, people with two or more comorbidities, people living in congregate settings and workers in congregate settings, including restaurants, construction and manufacturing.
Under the expansion, about 2 million people will become eligible. This is in addition to the 3 million Washingtonians who are already able to get the vaccine.
DOH acknowledged there was some overlap between the two groups but couldn’t quantify how many people that entailed. For example, overlap could include someone who was eligible in an earlier vaccination phase and has two or more underlying health conditions.
As of March 23, more than 1 million people, or 13.8% of Washington’s population, are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to DOH data.