The Kate Brown government has planned to announce the state’s latest COVID-19 response starting at 11 a.m. Watch the press conference here:
State officials, who are increasingly confident in providing vaccines, are accelerating their vaccination schedule. Officials say the increased supply will help vaccinate most Oregon seniors by early April. This means that the state can move to other groups almost a month earlier than previously expected.
This is welcome news as Oregon prepares to open vaccinations to nearly 800,000 seniors on Feb. 8, doubling the number of eligible people. Despite a relatively good development, there were unevenness of speed and points of attachment, and many health workers in the most populous counties of the state are still waiting their turn. When people over the age of 65 become eligible, state officials anticipate that these problems will only increase.
“If you watched the senior category take place all over the country, it was really chaotic. And it will be chaotic here as well, ”said OHA Director Patrick Allen. At least in the beginning, there will not be enough vaccines or meetings to go around.
To help address the flood of Oregon-appointed applicants, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown plans to mobilize the National Guard to hire Oregon’s COVID-19 helpline, accessed by calling 211.
The Biden administration has announced that states will receive three weeks’ notice of their vaccine supply. Oregon health officials announced Friday that starting next week, Oregon vaccine deliveries will increase by 20 percent, from 55,000 first doses a week to 75,000 first doses a week. Additional images will also become available through the federal pharmacy program.
Allen is confident that the state has the ability to get doses in its arms in the same week that the fires arrive.
“We have an average of 16,000 doses a day. Right now, our peak day was last Friday. We administered 24,000 doses during the day and everyone who vaccinated asked for more, “Allen said.
If you do the calculations, said Oregon Health Authority immunization chief and chief financial officer Dave Baden of Oregon, you will receive enough doses of the vaccine to immunize 75 percent of Oregon seniors by early April. “And we’ll have enough for the whole population just a few weeks later.”
Once the 75% reference level is reached, other groups will be able to schedule meetings.
But there will be a period, from February to March, in which the demand for vaccine will far exceed the supply and the demand and supply will vary from one county to another. This was true for much of the launch.
For some Oregonians, vaccination has been easy. Some counties have already vaccinated all their health workers and school staff. But more populous counties have struggled to reach out to health care workers who are not affiliated with major hospital organizations. OPB spoke with nurses in the Portland area, teachers and home caregivers who have struggled to make appointments using online tools, competing for appointments with a variety of less intuitive online enrollment systems.
Different counties will see different solutions.
“It’s frustrating, but because of the way things work, it will vary across the state with 34 different local public health authorities,” Allen said.
Related: As virus numbers rise in eastern Oregon, leaders question equitable access to vaccines
For example, in Douglas County, vaccines will be sent to pharmacies and medical offices.
“There will not be a big meeting system, you know, blocked. They have a dimension in which this is feasible, “Allen said.
Health workers in the Portland subway area have been frustrated by the current system, which only allows them to schedule meetings at the Oregon Convention Center a week in advance. Allen said they would soon be able to make appointments a few weeks in advance.
Kelly Beckley, RN, is preparing the Pfizer vaccine ahead of the opening of a COVID-19 vaccination clinic to be held at the Oregon Convention Center on January 27, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Oregon Health Authority Communications Director Robb Cowie told OPB that a new web system, scheduled to be launched next week, will fix some of the problems with that appointment system so far.
Currently, people can register for a COVID-19 vaccine only in English or Spanish. The new tool will accept 12 languages. At this time, a person can schedule only one meeting at a time. This means that home caregivers and their carers need to schedule separate meetings and make more trips to vaccination centers.
The new website will change that as well. People will be able to create a profile and use it to register multiple people at once.
Pharmacies in Portland and across the country will also receive vaccines directly from the federal government.
Despite all the planning, Allen acknowledged: “It will be a traffic jam. The first two weeks will be very hairy. ”
There will still not be enough meetings for everyone. Meetings are very likely to take place quickly and people will probably log in to find out that there are no appointments available. Even with the National Guard waiting on the phone to provide technical assistance, there will be expectations.