Seattle mayor says city is first of its size to fully vaccinate 70% of residents against COVID-19

Seattle has become the first major U.S. city to fully vaccinate 70% of its residents age 12 and up against COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, Mayor Jenny A. Durkan stated Wednesday.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee later congratulated the country’s “most vaccinated large city” on the accomplishment and said that a lot of lives will be saved if the rest of the state reaches the same level.

Indeed, Ms. Durkan said Seattle has the lowest number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations and deaths among major U.S. cities and that approximately 97% of new cases are in people not fully vaccinated.

“Seattle is America’s most vaccinated major city, and it would not have been possible without our residents’ commitment to protecting themselves, their loved ones and our entire community,” she said.

Seattle’s mayor announced the milestone in a press release issued as President Biden pushes for 70% of adults nationwide to be at least partially vaccinated against COVID-19 by Independence Day, July 4.

Different vaccines developed to combat the COVID-1-9 pandemic are administered in either one or two doses, and a person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving their last injection.

Close to 64% of the U.S. adult population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 53.3% are fully vaccinated currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Thursday.

Ms. Durkan’s office said that Seattle narrowly edged out San Francisco, California, to become the first major U.S. city to have vaccinated a minimum of 70% of its residents against COVID-19.

As of Wednesday, 79% of eligible San Franciscans over the age of 12 have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 69% are fully vaccinated or will be within two weeks, per the city’s site.

Hospitalizations in San Francisco are likewise at its lowest rate since the coronavirus pandemic started, the office of the city’s mayor, London Breed, a Democrat, said in a news release issued Wednesday.

The first cases of COVID-19 reported in the U.S. were identified in Washington state in January 2020. Nationwide, more than a half-million people died from the disease before any vaccines became available.