Vaccinations Not Available in Yakima County Until February

While state health officials say the COVID vaccine will be available to those over 70-years-old within the next several weeks in other parts of the state, Yakima health official say that won't happen locally until mid or late February. They say the timeline for how quickly the county can move through the state reopening phases will depend on how much available vaccine is allocated to Yakima County.
So far Yakima County has received 7, 700 doses of both the Pfizer and Moderna Vaccine. A lot of that vaccine has gone to first responders and front line health care workers in the valley. Some local pharmacies have received vaccine for staff and for those in long term care facilities.
On Thursday state officials announced the vaccine would be available to those over 70 and those 50 and over who live in multi generational households within the next several weeks. However in Yakima County local health officials say that won't happen until mid or late February.
They simply say at this time the county hasn't received enough vaccine to vaccinate people throughout the county.