D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said Thursday that she has requested more coronavirus vaccine doses from the federal government’s Operation Warp Speed because the first shipment will cover only a fraction of the city’s health care workers.
“The current proposed allotment is based on the District’s population, but we are in a unique region and approximately 75% of our more than 80,000 healthcare workers are residents of Maryland and Virginia, and not the District,” Miss Bowser said during a virus press conference.
The mayor did not specify how many of the initial doses are expected, but said it is not enough for health care workers, which is the city’s highest priority group.
D.C. Health Director LaQuandra Nesbitt said the federal government’s “staunch policy” to provide doses based on resident population instead of workforce population is not “an equitable approach.”
“[It] significantly disadvantages the District if our allotment allows us to vaccinate 1/10th or 10% of our health care workforce while other states can quickly vaccinate a third or 50% of their health care workforce,” Dr. Nesbitt said.
Miss Bowser said there are no plans to vaccinate only D.C. residents.
“We allow Maryland and Virginia residents to use our test sites, because we know they work here. We think a vaccination strategy along those lines makes us safer as well,” she said.
On Wednesday, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said he expects the state will receive about 70,000 doses in the first wave.
State Epidemiology Director Dr. Lilian Peake said she estimates 500,000 people make up the state’s priority groups, which include health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities.
