(Reuters) – Amazon Inc. said on Thursday it would open an emerging clinic at its Seattle headquarters on Jan. 24 with the goal of vaccinating 2,000 eligible members of the public against COVID-19 on the first day.
Jay Carney, senior vice president of Amazon Global Corporate Affairs, who announced the plan at a news conference with Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, said a company executive will work with the Vaccine Command Center. the state of Washington.
The clinic will be hosted in collaboration with Virginia Mason Franciscan Health.
The move came a day after Reuters reported that Amazon had offered to help with U.S. efforts regarding the COVID-19 vaccine, citing a letter to President Joe Biden.
Currently, the state allows people aged 65 and over and people aged 50 and over living in a multigenerational household to be vaccinated. It has not yet granted doses for vaccinating warehouse employees, such as Amazon.
The company employs more than 800,000 people in the country and more than 19,000 American workers at Amazon had contracted the virus as of September, stressing the importance of the vaccine to keep its staff safe and warehouses operational.
Reports from Maria Ponnezhath to Bengaluru; Edited by Arun Koyyur