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Washington State Teaming Up with Business on Vaccine Distribution

Washington State Teaming Up with Business on Vaccine Distribution

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The Washington state government is enlisting the aid of local business leaders.

While multiple vaccines from different companies are now available in the United States, actually distributing them to the public has proven to be something of a headscratcher. There’s been strings of misfires and miscommunications between state and national government channels, resulting in delays and red tape, which is a big problem when we’re trying to get everyone vaccinated as quickly as possible. To this end, some state governments have been seeking a little extra aid from external channels.


Local government officials of Washington state have assembled the “Washington State Vaccine Command and Coordination Center,” headed by Governor Jay Inslee. According to Inslee, this Center is a “public private partnership” between the state’s medical department and its various local labor leaders and health care professionals. Think of it like a thinktank comprised of multiple Washington state big shots combining their collective resources in an effort to roll out the vaccines as quickly and efficiently as possible. Each member of this thinktank will be responsible for a different facet of the rollout process.

One major player in this effort is coffee chain Starbucks, headed by company CEO and President Kevin Johnson.

“Now, we are not a health care company,” Johnson said during the news conference. “But Starbucks does operate 33,000 stores at scale, serving 100 million customers a week and we have a world class team of human-centered design engineers who are working under the direction of the state and health care providers … to help support the creation of vaccination centers that can scale and … amplify the comfort, care and safety of every person who gets vaccinated.”

Microsoft’s President Brad Smith will also be chipping in on the technological side of things. Since Microsoft’s offices are vacant with their employees working from home, he has proposed turning them into temporary vaccine administration cites.

“The goal is to make this, in February, one of the mass vaccination sites,” Smith said, adding that “this is not going to be a site for Microsoft employees, this is going to be a site for people in the community.”

With so many big names contributing to the project, Washington state will hopefully be able to facilitate a quick and relatively-painless rollout. “Together, with the measures Governor Inslee and others have announced, we pledge to make the forward progress the people of Washington deserve to get COVID-19 under control and protect everyone with this life-saving vaccine,” said Dr. Umair Shah, secretary of the state’s health department.

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