Posted: December 30, 2020 Newly appointed Washington Secretary of Health Umair A. Shah hosted the Wednesday briefing. In a Wednesday press briefing, state officials provided some preliminary answers to the questions on most people’s minds: When will I get the vaccine, and how does this new coronavirus variant change the game. Comparing the coronavirus pandemic to a football game, the newly appointed Washington Secretary of Health Umair Shah told reporters that we’re now at half time. “During the first half the pandemic took hold in the state, but we now have the vaccine and inoculations are going to the highest-priority individuals (group 1a, front-line health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities),” he explained. “In the second half the vaccine will be more widely distributed and ultimately go into the arms of all Washingtonians. In the meantime, we all need to continue taking measures to control the spread including hand washing, not gathering in groups, and wearing masks.”