One vaccine grande, please

While states struggle with a vaccine shortage, at least one state in the Pacific Northwest seems to have found new allies to help with logistics. And with minimal federal guidance thus far, it seems that state has turned to the private sector for help.

Washington state has decided to form some public-private partnerships — and it has some big corporations it can tap for help. Like Microsoft. The technology giant said it’ll provide technology expertise, which can be a big help when it comes to increasing the speed of a rollout.

But one corporation might surprise you. Washington is also apparently partnering with Starbucks, which is headquartered in Seattle.

“Now, we are not a health-care company,” Starbucks president and CEO Kevin Johnson said. “But Starbucks does operate 33,000 stores at scale, serving 100 million customers a week, and we have a worldclass team of human-centered design engineers who are working under the direction of the state and health care providers . . . to help support the creation of vaccination centers that can scale and . . . amplify the comfort, care and safety of every person who gets vaccinated.”

We have no idea what a human-centered design engineer is. But if you’re looking to put shots into arms, why not ask the company that puts coffee into millions of hands every day?

So Starbucks and Microsoft will form a dream team for Washington to help make sure a state that was hit hard early on in the pandemic can have a faster recovery. Until the country gets enough vaccine to start filling stadiums and parks, shots at Starbucks will have to do. And these days, every little bit helps.