83.6% Of King County Employees Vaccinated Ahead Of Deadline

KING COUNTY, WA — With just one week left for public employees to show proof they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, immunization rates among King County's workforce are trending pretty high.

The county-level mandate applies to 14,741 workers and is similar to Gov. Jay Inslee's orders that require state employees and health care workers to confirm their vaccination status by Oct. 18. As of Monday, more than 83 percent of King County workers covered by the order were listed as fully vaccinated, according to data provided by the King County Executive's Office.

That number is slightly higher than the average for King County, where approximately 81 percent of residents 12 and older are fully vaccinated.

At least nine agencies had vaccination rates above 90 percent. The highest compliance rate, at nearly 98 percent, was within the executive department, followed closely by the Department of Human Resources and King County Elections.

A handful of agencies still have vaccination rates under 80 percent: the King County Sheriff's Office, King County Metro, and the Department of Natural Resources and Parks. The county is still awaiting vaccination status from 223 members of the King County Sheriff's Office, according to Monday's data.

Here is a snapshot of King County's vaccination rates among employees as of Oct. 11:

A spokesperson for the county said details on the total number of religions and medical exemptions sought or granted were not immediately available. The Seattle Times' David Gutman reports the sheriff's office had fewer than 100 exemption requests. The county expects to receive more vaccination records in the coming days from employees who received shots through their health care provider but have not yet reported them.

Under a labor agreement reached last month with several county employee unions, some workers who miss next Monday's deadline can still avoid firing if they agree to begin the process and become fully immunized by Dec. 2.

Related: Vaccination Rates Soar Among State Workers As Deadline Approaches