D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Friday echoed her calls for additional vaccine doses to be administered to District health workers when rollout begins.

Currently, the federal government’s plan, which determines high-priority patients based on where they live, would provide less than 7,000 initial doses for District workers, making up less than a tenth of the city’s 85,000 health-care employees. Nearby Maryland is slated to receive 300,000 doses by the new year, and Virginia is expected to receive 140,000 for its first cohort of health-care workers, according to the Washington Post.

“So far, the Operation Warp Speed is approaching every jurisdiction by resident population, and we think that that especially doesn’t work for us because of how people live and work in our region,” Bowser said during Friday’s episode of The Politics Hour. “We are an outlier with the number of health care workers that don’t actually live in the District. So that makes it very difficult for us to get up to 30% or 50% of our health care workers, given our population.”

On Thursday, Bowser sent a letter to U.S. health officials, pushing for more D.C. vaccine doses. “The proposed one-size-fits-all formula for distribution to states based [upon] residential population will prove woefully insufficient for the District of Columbia, providing less than 10% of the doses D.C. would need,” the mayor wrote.

Meanwhile, Bowser said on the show that she will take the COVID-19 vaccine when it’s made available, joining other public figures and politicians who’ve announced they will take it as an example for the public.

“I will take it,” Bowser said Friday. “My way of thinking even about that has evolved, because like most people I had questions. I was concerned. I was especially concerned about the political nature of it. But I paid close attention to the scientists.”

Bowser added that a member of her team participated in the COVID-19 vaccine trials here in D.C., and said DC Health director Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt has been “intricately involved with the Operation Warp Speed project,” in reference to the federal government’s mission to develop and distribute a vaccine as soon as possible.

“I have very high confidence in taking it, and I will take it as soon as I can,” said Bowser.

One person who called into the show asked Bowser about a recent bill that passed in the D.C. Council, which would allow minors to seek vaccines without parental consent. Activists have asked for Bowser to veto the bill, which is not specifically tied to a COVID-19 vaccine.

Bowser replied that she was currently reviewing the bill. She also mentioned her changed position on the HPV vaccine — D.C. currently requires kids entering the public school system to be vaccinated against diseases including measles, mumps, chicken pox, and polio, but parents are allowed to opt their child out of the HPV vaccine.

“You may remember … I wasn’t a supporter of the HPV requirement at the time it was introduced,” Bowser said of the controversial measure that went into effect more than a decade ago. “I have since completely changed my mind with regard to the need to have our young people vaccinated with the HPV vaccine. And we want to make sure we have a regulatory system that helps get as many people as possible with access to that important vaccine.”

She said the timing of the Council’s new vaccine legislation is unfortunate, given the fact that health officials plan to roll out COVID-19 vaccinations before the end of the year as cases continue to climb nationwide. In the District alone, new cases topped 300 for two consecutive days this week.

“We have an uphill battle in that regard, especially in the African American community,” she said. “And I don’t have to tell you how devastating COVID has been for African Americans.”

Black Washingtonians still account for 74% of COVID-related fatalities citywide.

As Bowser herself plans to take the vaccine when it’s available, she joins other D.C. officials like Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh and Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Wayne Turnage, who have both documented their experiences with the vaccine trials.