Leaders of the Portland Area’s four largest hospital systems celebrated the inauguration of the Portland area’s first mass vaccination site COVID-19 at the Oregon Convention Center in northeastern Portland.
The site held a soft open Wednesday for about 1,500 health professionals and others in Phase 1a of the vaccine launch who are eligible to be immunized against COVID-19. The site plans to start vaccinating around 2,000 employees in daycare centers, preschools and elementary and high schools each day.
The site is scheduled to open seven days a week by appointment only. Organizers say educators will be contacted by their employers with instructions on how to make an appointment.
Authorities plan to offer a reservation system online or by phone when vaccines are eventually made available to segments of the general population not tied to specific employers – such as the planned launch for Oregon residents aged 80 and over from 8 February.
The site could increase to 7,500 vaccinations a day or more – if Oregon’s federal government vaccine quotas allow.
“This is not a short-term event, it will be open for months,” said Wendy Watson, chief of operations at Kaiser Permanente Northwest, during a news conference on Wednesday with the four hospital systems that will operate the site.
Joining Kaiser are Legacy Health, Providence Health & Services and Oregon Health & Science University.
Organizers hope it will be the main vaccination center for the Portland area, although OHSU is planning a smaller drive-through vaccination site in one of the Portland International Airport car parks. The state also plans to have some mobile vaccination sites to provide vaccination access to hard-to-reach communities.
When asked by a reporter why the Oregon Convention Center site was vaccinating people indoors, where the coronavirus and, especially, its most contagious UK variant can spread more easily, organizers said people would be separated for at least 2 meters and the organizers believe that the place will be safe. Watson said bad weather was one of the reasons for not having vaccines outdoors. Another was a drive-through site that cannot vaccinate as many people a day as the covered site.
“Getting in and out is very fast,” said Watson.
The Oregon Convention Center is home to the Portland area’s first COVID-19 mass vaccination site. (Courtesy of Kaiser Permanente)
The new Portland site is one of the few mass vaccination sites in Oregon. This includes one at Polk County fairgrounds and another at Salem state fairgrounds. This week, educators began receiving vaccines in Marion County – days before the state’s official start date for daycare centers, preschools and elementary and middle school staff on January 25, according to KATU.
Oregon administered approximately 225,000 doses until Wednesday, with the rate of inoculations increasing since slow implementation. In fact, Patrick Allen, director of the Oregon Health Authority, said the big problem Oregon is now facing is getting enough vaccines to vaccination sites.
“All the vaccinators we had contact with last week, while doing 15,000 (vaccinations) a day, begged for more vaccines that were simply not available to be allocated to them,” said Allen.
Allen said that while the federal government is providing vaccines at no direct cost to vaccine recipients, health systems will be reimbursed for their operating costs with the Portland vaccination site. Allen said the Oregon Health Plan, Medicare, private insurance or a special fund for people without insurance will pay healthcare systems a certain amount for each vaccination. But since this is unlikely to cover its expenses, the state is looking into applying federal funds recently approved by Congress for coronavirus-related expenses.
Oregon on December 16 began vaccinating health care workers, residents of long-term care facilities and other medical professionals. Governor Kate Brown is prioritizing teachers next, followed by Oregon residents aged 80 and over, with an equity committee set to agree on their recommendations before the governor sets the order after that.
Trent Green, chief operating officer at Legacy Health, asked the public for patience as the site developed.
“I know people are anxious,” said Green. “After months of this pandemic, it is very difficult to wait. I can say that our phones keep ringing with people wanting to know when and where they can be vaccinated. “
Green continued: “Calling your doctor’s office or the hospital cannot speed up the process. Not even calling your doctor’s office or the hospital can change the phase you are in. “
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– Aimee Green; [email protected]