State leaders will announce on Friday that the next wave of Oregon residents to start receiving COVID-19 vaccines after the elderly will be residents aged 45 or older who have underlying medical conditions, including cancer, type 2 diabetes and severe obesity – but not smokers.
Officials say this group will be eligible until March 29. Agricultural workers, food processing workers and homeless people will also be eligible at the same time.
By May 1, the state plans to open vaccines for people with underlying medical conditions between the ages of 16 and 44. Frontline workers such as supermarket workers, restaurant and bar workers, bus drivers, construction workers and government officials will also become eligible on the same date. But these workers must not be able to work from home and must maintain regular, close contact with other people outside the home as part of their jobs.
On June 1, the state plans to allow the healthy general population of Oregon residents 45 and older to start vaccinating.
On July 1, anyone aged 16 or older must become eligible for vaccines, officials say.
The news will be made official during a news conference held by Governor Kate Brown and public health leaders at 11 am on Friday. The announcement will be broadcast live on YouTube.
Dave Baden, chief financial officer of the Oregon Health Authority, said he expected all seniors aged 65 and over who wish the vaccine to receive its first doses by the end of March – allowing the state to open the floodgates for the next three months to an estimated 800,000 residents with underlying conditions and 980,000 frontline workers.
But Baden said he thinks the new schedule is conservative: he believes there will be enough vaccine arriving in Oregon to give all Oregon adults a first dose by the end of May. Baden said state officials could postpone the dates announced on Friday, thanks to the dramatic increase in remittances promised by the federal government.
“We thought we could go faster,” said Baden. “But we want to make sure that we’re setting goals today, so that at least someone can say, ‘I can see when I’m eligible’.”
State officials said they are leaving the definitions of who qualifies as having “underlying medical conditions” to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – with two exceptions. The CDC recommends that people who meet the definition of obese – who have a body mass index of 30 or more – be included. Oregon will establish stricter criteria for severe obesity, with a body mass index of 40 or more.
The CDC also recommends that smokers be included, but Oregon excluded them from initial vaccinations. Rachael Banks, director of the Oregon Health Authority’s Public Health Division, said smokers may qualify for early vaccination for other reasons that include lung or heart disease.
Oregon’s list of underlying conditions includes the following conditions: cancer that is currently active and compromising the immune system, chronic kidney disease, chronic lung disease, Down syndrome, weakened immune system by organ transplants, pregnancy, sickle cell disease, type diabetes 2, severe obesity and heart disease that include heart failure, coronary artery disease and cardiomyopathy. The list does not include high blood pressure.
Come back to OregonLive.com later today. This story will be updated.
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– Aimee Green; [email protected]; @o_aimee