Ten days after Washington state’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for state government, K-12 and health care employees went into effect, Gov. Jay Inslee said he was “very, very pleased” with the number of workers who complied, as more than nine in 10 employees have been fully vaccinated.
During an Oct. 28 press conference, Inslee said nearly 91% of Washington state government employees have verified their vaccination status and 3.2% received an exemption. Based on available data, he said the state only lost 2.9% of its employees, with the remainder in “pending action,” which includes people still in the process of full vaccination.
“State employees, colleges, K-12 (education), hospitals, all of them have gone up dramatically in their vaccinations,” Inslee said.
Though the governor did not make any new proclamations during the press conference regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, Inslee said he expected final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for children 5 to 11 years old to receive the Pfizer vaccine in the coming week. He said vaccinations for children would reduce their ability to infect those in their households and the community at large.
“We all have a stake in this child vaccination issue. Even if you’re not in school, even if your kids or grandkids are not in school,” Inslee said.
Inslee said he has not made any decision on requiring the COVID-19 vaccine for K-12 students, though that could change with the FDA approval for younger children.
“I certainly cannot rule that out in any way,” Inslee said about student vaccination mandates, noting schools already have requirements for other vaccines.
He acknowledged COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have declined in the past few months, but Inslee said case rates still remain high. In recent weeks, he said there has been a “very worrisome” trend of a plateau in the disease’s activity, with a statewide average of more than 2,000 cases a day.
The governor noted the impact full hospitals have on individuals waiting to receive elective surgeries.
“If these numbers would go back and go up … besides the inevitable death and disability of COVID, we will continue to see people unable to get elective surgery, unable to get cardiac surgery, cancer surgery, hip joints and the like,” Inslee said.
The governor said any change in current measures in Washington related to COVID-19 would likely focus on the overall activity of the disease rather than striving to hit a certain percentage of vaccinated individuals.
“At some point we want to remove these restrictions when we get to a (lower) level of activity of the virus in the community,” Inslee said. “But as far as just the vaccination rate, I’m not sure that would be the right way to go about it.”
“I think I’ve answered this now about 7,000 times, and I’m happy to continue to answer it. I do not have a crystal ball, and nor does any scientist in the world today, to predict the course of this virus,” Inslee said.
Inslee mentioned the recent vaccination or negative COVID-19 test requirements to enter large-scale events in Washington and said adding vaccination requirements for restaurants isn’t something he’s currently considering. He said the state would wait to see how King County’s measure performs to base any future implementation of vaccination requirements in restaurants.
Overall, Inslee said the impact of Washington’s vaccination mandates is “dramatic.”
“We may have started around 50% (vaccination), now we’re over 90%,” Inslee said about impacted workers. “If we can replicate that in any more industries, we’re going to be in much better shape in this pandemic.”
“A lot of these folks just need a little nudge, or need a way to get them to really seriously think about the issue, and they get vaccinated by the thousands,” Inslee said.
The governor expressed worry of a potential sixth wave of COVID-19 this winter.
“We really have reached a fork in the road for our state. Are we going to accept COVID and continue to let it run wild, or are we going to continue to fight it?” Inslee asked.
