SEATTLE — Amazon is preparing to vaccinate thousands of its essential workers in Washington on-site at the company’s own facilities in the coming months.
“We now have an agreement in place with a licensed third-party occupational health care provider to administer vaccines,” the company wrote in a Dec. 21 letter to Gov. Jay Inslee.
Amazon said it has more than 20,000 full and part-time essential workers in Washington state, including Whole Foods employees.
The company said its COVID-19 vaccination system will be much like the one it uses for seasonal flu shots.
Amazon plans to work with its providers and Inslee to ensure workers who receive the two-dose vaccines are tracked and reported to health authorities, the letter said.
“Amazon stands ready to assist you to ensure our essential workers who cannot work from home receive the COVID-19 vaccine at the earliest appropriate time,” the company wrote.
Amazon said it has an extensive COVID testing system available at more than 650 sites, which is capable of testing up to 50,000 workers a day.
“Critical workers” 50 and older, including those who work in grocery stores and food processing, are eligible to start receiving the vaccine in February, according to the Washington Dept. of Health. Those who meet the same criteria, but are under 50, will be eligible in April.