How many Whatcom residents have been vaccinated? State and CDC data differs by 20,000

Data on the number of Whatcom County residents who have initiated vaccination reported by the Washington State Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention differs by nearly 20,000 people.

As of Wednesday, the state Department of Health reported that 133,248 people have begun the vaccination process, while the CDC is reporting 14.9% more with 153,051 vaccination starts in Whatcom.

Vaccination completions in the county also are off by 13.2%, with the state reporting 119,305 and the CDC reporting 135,112.

The state’s COVID dashboard recognizes the difference in the data on the statewide level, and attributed it to the CDC getting vaccination data directly from the U.S. Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Bureau of Prisons and a few other sources that do not funnel data directly to the Department of Health.

But could those sources possibly explain a difference of nearly 20,000 people in Whatcom County (or nearly 9% of our total population)?