Oregon’s ability to begin administering vaccines to an extended group of people from Jan. 23 was threatened after expectations that the federal government would receive more doses were untrue.
Earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar announced that an unspecified number of doses held in reserve for second doses would be released to states. Government Kate Brown responded on Tuesday by welcoming extra doses and announcing that all teachers and people over the age of 65 are eligible for the vaccine that will be eligible this coming Saturday, in conjunction with the arrival of more vaccines.
But Brown said Friday that she learned Thursday night from Gustave F. Perna, chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, that no reserve doses exist and that the state’s allocation of vaccines will essentially remain. Oregon expects to see a small dose in the dose.
Exactly what this means for the state’s vaccination timeline is not immediately clear. Oregon sits at nearly 200,000 unused doses and can try to advance in a certain capacity by using the doses and regular deliveries.
Brown is holding a press conference at 2 p.m. to outline the state’s plans.
“States will not receive any increased deliveries of vaccines from the national stock next week because there are no federal dose reserves,” Brown said in a series of tweets Friday morning. ‘This is a deception on a national scale. Oregon seniors, teachers and all of us, were dependent on the promise that Oregon’s share of the federal reserve of vaccines would be released to us. ”
In a letter to Azar, the director of the Oregon Health Authority said that if the state did not receive the increased dose doses, as expected, the consequences could be serious.
“If true, it’s extremely disturbing, and it puts our plans to expand fitness a serious risk,” Patrick Allen wrote. “These plans were made on the basis of your statement about ‘the release of the total stock’ that you have in reserve. If this information is correct, we cannot start vaccinating our vulnerable elderly on 23 January as before. ”
Allen, who spoke on OPB’s Think out Loud program on Friday, went a step further and said: “It’s just not going to be possible right now because it was completely dependent on the increase in supply.”
Confusion over the vaccines stems from Azar’s comments Tuesday, when he said: “it’s time to move on to the next phase of the vaccination campaign” and called on states to start vaccinating people aged 65 and older. Azar said, among other things, “we are releasing all the stock we have available for order through states rather than keeping second doses in physical reserve.”
Azar did not make it clear that the federal government had already begun dispatching second doses, nor did he make it clear that the decision would not significantly increase the supplies received by states. Federal officials originally kept those doses in reserve to ensure challenges with supply did not allow people who received their first shot to receive a second shot a few weeks later to complete the vaccination schedule.
“There has never been a reason states need to vaccinate all health care providers before vaccinations are opened for older Americans and other vulnerable populations,” Azar added. “States should not wait to complete 1A priorities before moving on to broader categories of suitability.”
According to The New York Times, 28 states have already started vaccinating seniors based on their current vaccination grants. Thirty-two have significantly expanded the vaccination state to include essential workers, including teachers, based on their current vaccination grants.
But Oregon resisted the vaccination of the elderly, thus putting health care workers and residents in long-term care first. The state expected about 1.1 million doses by February, enough to give everyone in Phase 1a groups, which numbered an estimated 500,000 people, two shots.
However, in response to the federal government’s announcement, Brown said people 65 and older and teachers could be vaccinated from Jan. 23. State officials made the announcement, although they did not have clear information on how many more vaccines Oregon would receive.
“While this is an unexpected change of pace from the federal government, receiving more vaccines is welcome news for states – and Oregon is ready to spend all necessary resources to promote distribution with our health partners,” Brown said Tuesday.
Now that the state has found out that it will not receive dramatically more doses, Oregon plans to discontinue its plan to include seniors and K-12 educators, two groups that top 800,000 people. Oregon currently has about 189,000 unused doses, according to its state tracking system and CDC figures.
Oregon’s vaccination manager, Rex Larsen, only received details from federal officials late Thursday about the minimal impact of the federal government’s announcement.
“We expect a 2-5% increase in allocations during the previous two weeks if security stock is released, but there is not a second dose of inventory as previously reported,” Larsen wrote in an email to Allen who obtained by a public. record request by The Oregonian / OregonLive. “The second doses were actually provided from an expected production return and there are no storage doses available to ship to states.”
Larsen told Allen that Operation Warp Speed officials had asked that he not ask for more information until January 21, a day after the inauguration of President Joe Biden.
Questions to the Oregon Health Authority about emergency plans to get vaccines to Oregon teachers and seniors were not immediately answered Friday morning.
Sen. Jeff Merkley’s office said he was in contact with the federal government and awaiting further explanation from Operation Warp Speed.
‘General [Gustave] “Perna and HHS Secretary Azar must AGAIN answer immediately for misleading statements – this time about the provision of vaccines in the strategic reserve, which undermines Oregon’s vaccination efforts,” Merkley said in a statement to The Oregonian / OregonLive. “It is completely unacceptable. I demand answers. ”
Sen. Ron Wyden’s office said the senior senator was “blinded” by the news.
“It’s hard to say which is worse – the Trump administration’s lies or its incompetence,” Wyden tweeted Friday. ‘Either way, the latest failure to provide vaccines is completely unacceptable to Americans who count on it. I will ask for answers. New leadership cannot come soon enough. ”
Oregonian / OregonLive reporters Aimee Green, Andrew Theen and Brad Schmidt contributed to this report.
– Kale Williams; [email protected]; 503-294-4048; @sfkale