PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Oregon has initiated a pilot program that allows some federally qualified health centers to offer COVID-19 vaccines to anyone they serve, even if the patient does not fall into any of the currently eligible categories.
These centers must still prioritize patients who are currently eligible under Oregon rules, but the pilot program gives healthcare providers for the most at-risk populations more latitude and resolves a conflict between federal and state priorities on vaccine equality.
The Oregon Health Authority says the goal is to reach the populations most affected by COVID-19 quickly.
The centers, which serve vulnerable populations, such as rural workers, are asking Washington to do the same.
The Biden administration last month began distributing vaccine to federally qualified health centers under a program designed to inject into the arms of the most economically and socially disadvantaged Americans – seasonal and migrant agricultural workers and those living in poverty, for example.
But these centers in Oregon and Washington were left tied because state rules on vaccine eligibility had not yet expanded to migrant rural workers, those with pre-existing illnesses or other vulnerable groups, and therefore they could not apply them.
The disconnect was “incredibly frustrating,” but the Oregon pilot program will solve those 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. . About a third of these patients are seasonal farmers, she said, and clinics offer treatment regardless of ability to pay.
“They live in a congregated environment, from four to six per room, from head to toe, and work, live, eat and sleep in groups. If a person in your cohort becomes ill, everyone loses their working hours, ”she said.
Read more at: https://apnews.com/article/portland-coronavirus-pandemic-oregon-5ed46270d0da623dd453189d1bc48e2e