Amazon helps vaccinate thousands in its hometown

Updated January 31

Amazon is opening its Seattle campus to host pop-up clinics aimed at vaccinating the public against COVID-19. Jay Carney, Amazon Senior Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs, announced the effort in a January 21 news conference with Washington Governor Jay Inslee.

A COVID-19 vaccine clinic hosted on Amazon's Seattle headquarters

Photo by Amazon

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"We're eager to help save lives here in our home state, to rebuild the economy with you, and to turn the page on COVID as quickly as we can," Carney told the governor. He also said "we're committing one of our own executives to be on loan to your team, to your Vaccine Command Center, so that we can leverage our expertise through that executive in your efforts going forward."

So far, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health has vaccinated almost 5,000 people through two clinics at Amazon’s Meeting Center. For more information about the clinics, go to https://www.virginiamason.org/vaccinewaitlist.

Amazon’s vaccine clinic, in partnership with Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, is the latest in the company’s effort to help control and ultimately end the pandemic. That has included more than 1 million on-site COVID tests conducted through the more than 650 sites around the U.S. where employees can get screened for the virus.

On a national level, Carney noted Amazon’s outreach to President Joe Biden. "We sent a letter to the president, offering any assistance we could provide in his efforts to vaccinate 100 million Americans in 100 days,” he said. “We can leverage our operations, our information technology, our logistics and communications capabilities in ways that could help with his effort."

As vaccine supply becomes available, Carney told Inslee that Amazon also stands ready to reduce the strain on public resources by doing in-house vaccinations of the tens of thousands of Amazon employees doing front-line jobs throughout Washington state. "Because we have big employee bases in these fulfillment centers, we can get a lot of vaccinations done very quickly," he said.

Inslee thanked Amazon for hosting the pop-up clinic and "pitching in right here at the beginning" of the state's long push to vaccinate all Washingtonians. "We know we're going to keep talking to you, too. There's a lot more work to do."

Previously, Amazon reached out to the Trump Administration's Operation Warp Speed to offer assistance on vaccine logistics, and contacted all governors offering to help distribute the vaccine. Throughout 2020, we partnered extensively with the Trump Administration to respond to COVID-19. That included working with the State Department to collect personal protective equipment from China when American doctors had none, building new tools for researchers and public health authorities, and advising the U.S. government on testing. Read more about how Amazon is supporting communities, customers, and employees during the pandemic.

We are sharing how we set up this pop up clinic for other companies and organizations to adapt for similar vaccination clinics.