Gov. Kate Brown was scheduled to announce the latest announcement of the state’s COVID-19 response by 11 p.m. Watch her press conference here:
Civil servants, who are increasingly confident about the provision of vaccines, are accelerating their timeline for vaccinations. Officials say the increased supply will help them vaccinate a majority of seniors in Oregon in 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 on Feb. 8 to open vaccinations to nearly 800,000 seniors, doubling the number of qualifying people. Despite a relatively smooth deployment, there have been speed bumps and bottlenecks, and many health workers in the most populous provinces in the state are still waiting their turn. When people over 65 are eligible, government officials expect the problems to only increase.
‘When you see the senior category roll out all over the country, it was really chaotic. And it’s going to be chaotic, too, “said Patrick Allen, director of OHA. At least there will not be enough vaccines or appointments at first.
To help deal with the flood of zealous searchers, Oregon Government Kate Brown plans to mobilize the National Guard to man Oregon’s COVID-19 helpline, which is called by 211.
The Biden administration has announced that states will take notice of their vaccination three weeks in advance. Oregon health officials announced Friday that Oregon’s vaccines will increase by 20% from next week, from 55,000 first doses per week to 75,000 first doses per week. Additional shots will also be available through the federal pharmacy program.
Allen is confident that the state has the ability to get doses the same week as the shots arrive.
‘We have an average of 16,000 doses a day. At the moment, our peak day was last Friday. We administered 24,000 doses throughout the day, and everyone who was vaccinated asked for more, ‘Allen said.
If you do math, Oregon vaccination leader and chief financial officer Dave Baden, Oregon, said the vaccine doses to immunize 75% of the elderly in Oregon by early April. “And we’ll only have enough for the whole population a few weeks later.”
Once the 75% standard is reached, other groups can schedule appointments.
But there will be a period, from February to March, in which the demand for vaccine will greatly exceed the supply, and the demand and supply will vary from country to country. This was true for much of the implementation.
For some Oregonians, vaccination was easy. Some provinces have vaccinated all their health workers and school workers. But more populous provinces have struggled to reach health workers who are not affiliated with large hospital organizations. OPB spoke to nurses, teachers, and home carers in the Portland area who struggled to make appointments using online tools, and competed for appointments with a variety of less-than-intuitive online sign-up systems.
Different provinces are going to see different solutions.
“It’s frustrating, but because of the way things work, it’s going to differ across the state with 34 different local public health authorities,” Allen said.
Related: As the toll of viruses rises in Eastern Oregon, leaders question access to vaccine
Vaccinations in Douglas County, for example, will be sent to pharmacies and medical offices.
‘There will not be a large, you know, a fixed appointment system. They’re as big as possible, ‘Allen said.
Healthcare workers in the Portland metro area are frustrated with the current system, which could allow them to make appointments at the Oregon Convention Center just one week ahead of time. Allen said they could make appointments soon a few weeks ahead of time.
Kelly Beckley, RN, is preparing the Pfizer vaccine ahead of the opening of a COVID-19 vaccination clinic to be held on January 27, 2021 at the Oregon Convention Center.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
The Communications Director of the Oregon Health Authority, Robb Cowie, told OPB that a new web system, planned to be launched next week, will solve some of the problems with the appointment system so far.
Currently, people can only sign up for a COVID-19 vaccine in English or Spanish. The new tool will support 12 languages. At this time, an individual can only schedule one appointment at a time. This means that home carers and the people they care for have to plan separate appointments and take several trips to vaccination centers.
The new website will change that as well. People can create a profile and use that profile to log in to multiple people at once.
Pharmacies in Portland and across the state also receive vaccinations directly from the federal government.
Despite all the planning, Allen admitted: ‘It’s going to be a traffic jam. The first few weeks are going to be really hairy. ”
There will still not be enough appointments for everyone. It is very likely that appointments will fill up quickly, and that people will probably still sign up to see that there are no appointments available. Even while the national is waiting on the phone to provide technical support, there will be waiting.