PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Oregon has launched a pilot program that will allow some federally qualified health centers to offer COVID-19 vaccinations to all who serve them, even if the patient does not fall into any currently eligible categories.
These centers must continue to prioritize patients currently eligible under Oregon rules, but the pilot program provides healthcare providers for the most at-risk population more latitude and resolves a conflict between federal and state priorities on the vaccine.
The Oregon Health Authority says the goal is to quickly reach populations most affected by COVID-19.
The centers, which serve vulnerable populations like farm workers, are asking Washington to do the same.
The Biden administration began distributing vaccine to federally qualified health centers last month under a program designed to get shots into the arms of the most economically and socially disadvantaged Americans – for example, seasonal and migrant farm workers and the Americans living in poverty live.
But the centers in Oregon and Washington have tied their hands because the state’s rules on vaccine admission have not yet extended to migrant workers, those with pre-existing conditions or other vulnerable groups, and so they could not give shots.
The disconnect was ‘incredibly frustrating’, but the pilot program in Oregon will solve these problems, said Lori Kelley, senior director of quality at the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic, which treats 180,000 patients a year in eastern Washington and western Oregon. , said. About one-third of patients are seasonal farm workers, she said, and the clinics offer treatment regardless of the ability to pay.
‘They live in a congregational area, four to six in a room, from head to toe and they work, live, eat and sleep in cohorts. If one person in their group gets sick, they all miss working hours, ”she said.
Read more at: https://apnews.com/article/portland-coronavirus-pandemic-oregon-5ed46270d0da623dd453189d1bc48e2e