As part of a series of new efforts to help boost the coronavirus vaccination of the state, Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced on Monday that their partners Starbucks and Microsoft will assist them on their move against COVID-19.
The Washington Governor revealed in a news conference that the state has already established a public-private partnership, between other businesses, labor leaders, and health care, as it was dubbed as the Washington State Vaccine Command and Coordination Center.
Inslee also shared that the members in the partnership will focus on different aspects of vaccine distribution while coordinating all available resources to administer more vaccines in the state of Washington in the most efficient and the fastest way possible, CNN reported.
For example, Kaiser Permanente will be responsible for helping plan for mass vaccination clinics, while the other company, Starbucks will assist with the operational efficiency of the distribution of the vaccine.
Starbucks CEO and President, Kevin Johnson, shared during the news conference that they are not a health care company.
The governor also mentioned that since Starbucks is operating for 33,000 stores and still serving at least 100 million customers on a weekly basis, they have a world-class team of human-centered design engineers who are working under the direction of health care providers and the state in order to help support the creation of vaccination centers that can scale and amplify the care, comfort, and safety of every individual who will get the vaccine.
Moreover, Brad Smith, the president of Microsoft shared that the company will be providing their expertise which he emphasized that he has confidence that they can bring vaccines to everyone at a faster rate because of the move that they have initiated.
According to ABC via MSN, Microsoft President also mentioned that since the buildings of the company do not all have employees due to the ongoing global health crisis, they will partner with local hospitals in setting up vaccine administrations on their campus and will provide support staff for faster service during the vaccination process.
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Smith also added that the goal of the said idea is to make this one of the mass vaccination sites in February,
And he also clarified that the site will not serve as a site for employees of Microsoft but it is going to be a site for every individual in the community.
In addition, other stakeholders in the coalition which includes Costco will also help with the delivery of the said vaccines by pharmacies, as well as employee unions in order to help coordinate volunteer vaccinators.
Secretary of the state's health department, Dr. Umari Shah, emphasized in a statement that this is a huge undertaking, and no one can do it alone, NBC News reported.
Shah also added that together, with the measures Governor Inslee and other partners have announced, they pledge to make the forward progress that the people of Washington deserve, in getting coronavirus under control and protect every individual with this life-saving vaccine.
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