Health care workers and first responders were the first to be offered COVID-19 vaccines after a year on the front lines treating and caring for patients with the virus.
Oftentimes, they acted as a loved one and caregiver simultaneously, taking on personal risk as they ushered patients through what could be brutal and long recoveries or deaths.
But after nearly a year of trauma, it’s unclear how many health care workers decided to get inoculated in Washington. The same is true for first responders, many of whom turned down the vaccine despite being offered early access and being at high risk of infection.
Due to a lack of federal and state data, only surveys and individual providers can offer snapshots of how much of the workforce received a vaccine.
In Spokane, hospitals will not disclose how many of their employees are vaccinated, so it is impossible to see how they compare to hospitals elsewhere in Washington.