(Update: More OHA information)
State also sees the first ‘innovative cases’ involving fully vaccinated people
BEND, Oregon. (KTVZ) – Federal shipments of COVID-19 vaccines continue to increase and Oregon will continue as scheduled with the reduction of the eligible age from 80 to 75 on Monday, state health officials said on Friday. They also noted that four fully vaccinated Willamette Valley residents were diagnosed with mild cases, which they said was not unexpected.
“It is a serious development, but not surprising,” Oregon Health Authority director Patrick Allen told reporters when he reported two cases in Linn County and two in Yamhill County among residents, more than two weeks after the second and last dose.
Allen said the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are highly effective, but “even at 95 percent effectiveness, some people will get sick. This is common with all vaccines. “
Although demand continues to exceed available doses, Allen said the state is still on track to vaccinate 75 percent of all Oregonians eligible for the vaccines, including the elderly, by early April.
By the end of this week, more than 500,000 Oregon residents will have received at least the first of two doses, representing 70 percent of the 720,000 eligible people in Phase 1a and 1b categories. The state’s last seven-day continuous average is 17,000 shots a day.
Starting next week, Oregon will receive another 3,000 doses of the Modern vaccine, while an additional 6,000 doses are being sent to health centers qualified by the federal government of Oregon.
With the federal launch of the retail pharmacy program this week, more than 120 pharmacies across the state (mainly Safeway, Albertson’s and Costco for now) are also starting to receive vaccines, but with only 100 doses per site per week, they too are receiving more demand than supplies so far.
Thousands of doses also go to mass vaccination sites, such as the Portland and Redmond area.
While news from President Biden on Thursday of asking for another 200 million doses is good news, the reality is that those additional doses are still “months away,” said Allen.
Allen said that with enough supplies to reach the goal of 25,000 vaccinations a day, the state is on track to achieve “community immunity” in the fall.
Dr. Dean Sidelinger, state health officer, said the downward trend in daily cases continues. In early January, the seven-day continuous average was 1,149 cases – by Thursday, it had dropped almost 50% to 551. The count of 305 new cases on Monday was the lowest since October 19.
The state is registering 517 new cases on Friday, increasing the total to almost 150,000, but hospitalizations have dropped from almost 600 at the peak to 209 today. The number of COVID-19-related deaths reacted to almost 300, but the percentage of positive tests dropped to 4.2 percent.
Still, Sidelinger said there is still a long way to go, with 27 counties still in the Extreme or High Risk categories, based on case numbers and other data. He noted that as more companies reopen, even to a limited extent, cases tend to increase again.
The four “groundbreaking cases” of people diagnosed with COVID-19 more than two weeks after the second injection involve people with none or mild cases, noted Sidelinger, and while not unexpected, are being investigated to determine their origin.
Allen emphasized, “We are not going back to how things were before.”
More information from OHA on Friday:
As of Monday, February 15, people in Oregon who are 75 years of age or older become eligible for the COVID-19 vaccination.
Eligible adults can use the following resources to obtain information about vaccines in their communities. The tools that allow scheduling will be available with new hours available at 9am on Mondays and Thursdays:
- Vaccine Oregon: Find answers to basic questions to find out if you are eligible and get links to information about vaccines in your county. You can also sign up to receive alerts to be notified of upcoming vaccination events or to know when you may become eligible. Find this tool at covidvaccine.oregon.gov or getvaccinated.oregon.gov.
- Vaccine Information chat bot at covidvaccine.oregon.gov is available to find out if you are eligible for a vaccine in Oregon or to get answers to other vaccine questions. If you live in Clackamas, Columbia, Marion, Multnomah or Washington counties, you can schedule vaccination times using the Vaccine Information chat bot. The friendly tool of the Vaccine Information chat bot is an orange box that appears when you open the covidvaccine.oregon.gov website.
- 211: Send a text message to ORCOVID at 898211 to get text / SMS updates about vaccination clinics in English or Spanish or send an email to [email protected]. If you are unable to get your question about the COVID-19 vaccine answered on the website, by text or by email, you can call 211 or 1-866-698-6155, open from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm daily, including holidays. Be aware that the waiting time can be long due to the high volume of calls.
Today, Oregon Health Authority and its partners provided an update on COVID-19 vaccines and more. The recording (including ASL interpretation) is available here, and slides from today’s briefing are here.
Among the topics discussed was a new partnership. The Federal Retail Pharmacy Program is a collaboration between the federal government, states and territories and 21 national pharmaceutical partners and independent pharmacy chains to increase access to COVID-19 vaccination across the country.
- The program will be online this week in Oregon. Shipments arrived on February 10 at 127 retail pharmacies in Oregon.
- This program offers locations in 27 of Oregon’s 36 counties. These locations include 103 Safeway / Albertson locations, 13 Costco locations and 11 Health Mart (independent affiliate) pharmacies.
- Retail partners in this program will screen the appropriate age group according to the Oregon vaccine plan, starting with people aged 75 and over.
Eligible Oregon residents can book appointments on these retailers’ websites, but note that each website is scheduled to receive only 100 doses per week. This means that there will not be enough vaccines to immunize all eligible Oregon residents in these locations.
The websites of the chain’s pharmacies are as follows; Individual health centers should be contacted directly:
Due to the limited federal supply that goes to these pharmacies, you can also visit covidvaccine.oregon.gov to find out if you are eligible, sign up for notifications and get county specific information about vaccinations.
Most people now know that masks are one of the main tools we have to protect ourselves and others from COVID-19. Even if more people are vaccinated, masks will continue to be part of our lives.
Masks work best when everyone uses them consistently and correctly. The CDC has updated its guidelines on how your mask fits and filters the air and how many layers it has.
Two ways to help your mask protect you
- Make sure your mask fits your face perfectly
- Choose a layered mask or wear a disposable mask under a cloth mask
OHA today announced the discovery of four “innovative” COVID-19 cases. These are the cases where a person tested positive for COVID-19 at least 14 days after completing their vaccination series.
Two of the cases are in Yamhill County and two in Lane County. OHA is working with local public health officials to investigate the source. Their illnesses range from asymptomatic to mild symptoms.
Genome sequencing is underway and we expect results next week.
These cases are not unexpected. Both COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective, but even with vaccines that are 95 percent effective, some people get sick. This is common with all vaccines.
Clinical trials of both vaccines currently in use have included groundbreaking cases. In these cases, although the participants received COVID-19, the vaccines reduced the severity of the disease. Based on what is known about vaccines for other diseases and initial clinical trial data, OHA experts believe that existing vaccines are very effective.
Central Oregon / Coronavirus / Government policy / Oregon-Northwest / Key news