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Discusses Plan for Equitable Vaccine Distribution and the Vision for Seattle On the Other Side of the Pandemic
SEATTLE (February 15, 2021) – In a year of unprecedented challenges, Mayor Jenny A. Durkan delivered her fourth State of the City address at the Filipino Community of Seattle. Emphasizing the challenges magnified during the pandemic including homelessness, public safety, systemic racism, and climate change, she highlighted her plan for an equitable distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine and outlined her vision for Seattle to reopen and recover, especially downtown.
Earlier today, Mayor Durkan helped launch All In WA’s $15 million Vaccine Equity Fund, which seeks to invest in trusted, community-based organizations who can conduct linguistically and culturally-specific vaccine education and outreach, as well as safely facilitate mobile and pop-up vaccine clinics for those who want to get vaccinated.
Andrew Lofton, the Executive Director of Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) and Seattle Fire Department (SFD) Chief Harold Scoggins provided virtual introductions ahead of the Mayor’s State of the City address. Both SHA and SFD have been integral to the City’s effort to equitably vaccinate its most vulnerable residents and workers. The Seattle Fire Department Mobile Vaccination Teams (MVT) will partner with the Filipino Community of Seattle to vaccinate Filipino elders in the coming weeks.
To-date, the City has vaccinated 4,442 vulnerable Seattle residents and workers since launching its vaccination effort on January 14, 2021. The City has provided 4,195 vulnerable Seattleites the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and 247 Seattleites the second dose of the vaccine. These vaccinations have occurred at 86 Adult Family Homes, 29 affordable housing buildings with seniors, and six pop-ups. Roughly 70 percent of those vaccinated by the City identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities.
For more information, visit www.seattle.gov/vaccine. The City’s vaccination website is available in seven languages, and in-language assistance is also available over the phone.
You can find a recording of the Mayor’s fourth and final State of the City address here. Below is the full transcript of the Mayor’s address as delivered:
Good evening, Seattle.
I’m joining you from the Filipino Community of Seattle.
This community center and the families it serves were hit hard by COVID-19.
But like so many in Seattle, they stepped up and tripled the meals they served.
Now, they’re joining the City’s efforts to vaccinate Seattle equitably.
Soon, we’ll transform this very room into a one-day pop-up vaccination clinic for Filipino elders.
This past year changed everything for all of us:
Masks, testing, isolation.
Losing loved ones.
Small business owners struggling every day to survive.
Workers facing lost wages and jobs, and unable to pay their rent.
Parents grappling with childcare, kids at home, and online learning.
And the pandemic disproportionately hit our Black, Indigenous, and Latinx communities.
The pandemic is our lifetime’s challenge.
And it has amplified challenges we already had:
Homelessness.
Public safety.
The climate crisis.