Inslee Press Conference: “Half Million Now Vaccinated” in State

Gov. Inslee Tuesday afternoon said the state has seen the number of vaccinated people hit the half million mark.

Inslee spent the bulk of his press conference updating vaccination numbers. He said the state has gone from 16K in one day January 19, to 39K January 25, in large part to mass vaccination sites. Inslee said the number who've gotten the shot is at 500K.

He said that puts the state near it's daily goal of 45K a day. He also singled out Ret. General Jim Mattis, whom he said he saw a picture of getting his vaccine. Inslee said some 800K elderly persons still have not been able to get vaccines due to supply.

Inslee said while people are waiting for the vaccine, which is the most important thing people want, it is not time to let guard down. Like in many of his press conferences, he said we should refrain from having people over for dinner, or social gatherings etc.

He also said that's due to new strains of COVID that are reportedly more contagious and possibly more fatal.

In a brief legislative update, he said he was "very happy" that the House Environment and Energy Committee cleared the Low Carbon Fuel Standard bill, it will now go to the House floor for debate, then likely a vote. This is the bill that would likely add up to $.57 cents per gallon to the price of gas, up to $.63 for a gallon of diesel.

He did get a little frosty however, when questioned by Tom, one of the KEPR-TV local Tri City reporters. He asked Inslee about the confusion over appointments vs. first come first serve at the Benton Fairgrounds site; saying a number of elderly people were there at 5AM Tuesday, only to be told they had to register and get an appointment--they were turned away.

Inslee frostily said the system was working as best as it can in this "lifesaving effort."