WA Announces Vaccine Order For State Employees, Health Workers

OLYMPIA, WA — Gov. Jay Inslee has announced a universal vaccine order, requiring all state employees and private health care employees to take the COVID-19 vaccine or lose their jobs.

"We do so to protect our communities, to prevent further calamity to our state, and to once again be on the path to full recovery," Inslee said at a news conference Monday. "We will be requiring our state workers and our contractors who come on to our sites and workers in private health care and long term care settings to be vaccinated as a condition of further employment."

The above groups have until Oct. 18 to become fully vaccinated. To be considered fully vaccinated, a patient must have received two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and waited two weeks for full immunity to kick in.

"That essentially means you have to have your last vaccination by October 4th," Inslee said.

The governor was joined Monday by King County Executive Dow Constantine and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, who together confirmed that the county's 13,500 executive branch employees and the City of Seattle's 10,000-plus employees would both be subject to the same vaccine requirement.

"Thanks in large part to our collective actions, Seattle is the safest city in America. Even as cases have risen here regionally, Seattle has the lowest cases, deaths and hospitalizations of any city," Durkan said. "We also have one of the highest vaccination rates."

Seattle has not reported a death due to COVID-19 since July 11, Durkan said, a fact she credited to the city's high vaccination rate. 82 percent of Seattleites 12 and older are vaccinated.

There are "limited exemptions" to the mandate, and those asking to be exempt will have to apply for it.

"Someone with legitimate medical reasons or sincerely held religious beliefs for not getting the vaccine can make applications," Inslee said. "These exemptions do not include personal or philosophical exemptions."

The governor argues the mandate is necessary to combat the rising prevalence of the delta variant. The delta variant is currently fueling a fifth wave of infections in Washington: last week, the state estimated it logged roughly 1,500 new cases each day. State health officials said higher vaccination rates were needed in many communities to help combat the sharp increase in transmission rates that began around late June.

The delta variant is believed to be behind more than 70 percent of Washington's recent COVID-19 infections.

"We have what is essentially what is a new virus at our throats," Inslee said. "A new virus that is twice as transmittable and is causing an explosion of this dread disease in the state of Washington."

Hospitals are also reporting more admissions than any other point in 2021. On Aug. 2, the Washington State Hospital Association held a conference warning the public about a spike in hospital occupancy, saying most were "quite full."

"It is hard for all of us to watch cases increase and vaccination rates slow as we have vaccines available," said Washington Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah. "Our rise in cases is largely due to those people not getting vaccinated, but the decision not to get vaccinated is now impacting others as well."

California and New York had previously announced that they would require government workers to get vaccinated or take a weekly COVID-19 nasal swab to prove they aren't infected, the Associated Press reported. Similarly, a memo obtained by the AP shows that the Pentagon will be requiring all members of the U.S. military to get the COVID-19 vaccine by Sept. 15.

Some businesses had already opted for similar proposals. Inslee was joined Thursday by Kaiser Permanente Regional President Susan Mullaney, who discussed Kaiser's previously-announced plans to require all employees to be fully vaccinated by Sept. 30.

"A fully vaccinated work force of employees and physicians will help us demonstrate our deep commitment to disease prevention, public health, and most importantly, ending this pandemic," Mullaney said.

Most Washingtonians will not be impacted by the governor's new mandate, but unvaccinated residents are still encouraged to go and get their shot — otherwise, Inslee warned, the state might have to reenter lockdown to protect public health.

"We know there is only one path to that freedom, and that is Washingtonians getting this safe, effective, successful vaccine," Inslee said.

"It's never too late to make the right choice, and we're confident that people will."

For those who are still hesitant to take their dose, Inslee and Shah both recommend talking to a doctor about the benefits of vaccination.

"If you are fully vaccinated, thank you for protecting everyone around you, including those who cannot be vaccinated, like kids," said Shah. "If you are not vaccinated, today is the time to talk to your health care provider."