WA State COVID-19 Vaccine Prioritization Guidance and Interim Allocation Framework

The Washington State Department of Health has developed this guidance for COVID-19 vaccine allocation and prioritization to facilitate harmonized planning for distribution across Washington State. This guidance is the result of several months of engagement with expert groups and community partners to gather input and ideas. Given current information and federal guidance, we are providing guidance on Phase 1a and 1b that incorporates this input while staying aligned with the principles and criteria noted below. We are offering tentative ideas of populations that may be considered in future phases. The guidance will be updated to provide details on these other phases based on:

• New information from clinical trials
• New federal guidance and vaccine recommendations
• Ongoing feedback from impacted communities, partners, sectors, and industries

In this guidance, population groups overlap and there are individuals who fit into multiple categories. When this is the case, the higher phase should take precedence. Also, the order of the populations does not suggest any type of prioritization or risk stratification. In all circumstances, although reinfection appears uncommon during the initial 90 days after symptom onset, prior confirmation of COVID-19 infection will not exclude any individual from eligibility for COVID-19 vaccine and serologic testing is not being recommended prior to vaccination. Vaccines should be administered according to age groups for which the specific vaccine is authorized (e.g., Pfizer for 16 and over and Moderna for 18 and over).

You can read the full guidance here: https://www.doh.wa.gov/Portals/1/Documents/1600/coronavirus/SummaryInterimVaccineAllocationPriortization.pdf

The guidance is embedded in this article from the Washington State Department of Health: https://medium.com/wadepthealth/new-years-resolution-get-the-vaccine-to-get-past-the-covid-19-pandemic-cfb6890dd129