To the Editor:

Dr. Gib Morrow's guest column in the Kitsap Sun, Vaccines Present a Community Challenge gives a new meaning to "a call to arms." Few people give much thought to the massive undertaking required to deliver the Covid-19 vaccine to states and localities and overseeing their injection directly into people's arms.  

The general public may not know that prior to the distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine to their locality, vaccine administers must enroll in our state's provider program. They must sign and agree to conditions of participating in order to receive any Covid-19 vaccine. The U.S. has experience with mass vaccine distribution, but delivering Covid-19 vaccines is at a much greater scale than past efforts.

To ensure the greatest health and societal benefits accrue from the vaccination program, providers must answer the "call to arms" by signing up to administer the vaccine. If there are insufficient provider participants in Kitsap County, or any county, the vaccination effort will not be rapid, effective, nor equitable.

I encourage every eligible provider to enroll in Washington state's Covid-19 vaccine program as soon as possible, It would give our personal health and our economy's health a welcome "shot in the arm."

Micki Jackson

Burien