Senator Chris Gildon, R-Puyallup, issued the following statement after Gov. Jay Inslee’s claims today that he shared misinformation regarding Pierce County’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

“The facts don’t lie. The data I shared came from the Washington State Department of Health’s (DOH) website. It clearly shows that Pierce County has been lagging behind other counties and the statewide average in COVID-19 vaccine allocations.

“Since introducing Senate Bill 5484 – regarding vaccine distribution – the inequity in Pierce County’s has only gotten worse and this is according to Gov. Inslee’s DOH COVID-19 dashboard. As a matter of fact, there are not only disparities in Pierce County, but across the state. As of Monday, there were 11 counties with fewer than 20 percent of their population vaccinated and five counties with more than 30 percent of their population vaccinated.

“I believe it is imperative that we stick to the facts and not political opinions while we continue to fight this disease.”