Oregon seniors who tried to apply for the COVID-19 vaccination at some local pharmacies this week found that they are no longer eligible for consultations because of the White House’s new national orientation that prioritizes teachers.
But Oregon has already prioritized teachers, authorizing vaccination on January 25, even when the elderly have been forced to wait until February 8 until March 1 for their turn. Oregon is now significantly behind states like California and Washington in its vaccination rate among the elderly.
Federal policy represents another setback for Oregon residents, who are among the most vulnerable to the virus. This prompted Governor Kate Brown and the Oregon Health Authority to urge local pharmacies to disregard federal guidance and continue to vaccinate elderly people aged 65 and over.
“This was a decision made at the federal level, without prior consultation with state leaders,” said Charles Boyle, a spokesman for Brown’s office, by email on Tuesday. “Governor Brown is working directly with the White House to update this policy to allow pharmacies participating in the federal program in states like Oregon, which have largely vaccinated our educator workforce, to continue to schedule appointments for seniors.”
President Joe Biden announced on March 2 that he would prioritize vaccinating teachers before the end of March, as part of a national effort to reopen schools safely. To this end, he said he will ask pharmacies participating in the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program to reserve schedules for teachers starting this week.
“To help make this happen, starting next week and for a month – the month of March, we will be using our federal pharmacy program to prioritize pre-K vaccination through 12 educators and staff and child caregivers” said Biden.
The new limits apply only to vaccine appointments at retail pharmacies participating in the federal program, which are scheduled to receive 24,000 doses in Oregon this week, according to the Oregon Health Authority. There is no indication that the new policy will have an impact on people with existing pharmacy appointments. Other locations, including clinics and mass vaccination sites, such as the Oregon Convention Center, continue to book appointments for people in Oregon over 65 and others eligible under state guidelines. These sites are expected to receive about 90,000 doses this week.
The change in Biden’s administration has left pharmacies in Safeway, Albertsons and Health Mart allowing only teachers and child assistants to schedule COVID-19 vaccine appointments on Tuesday through their online systems. Costco and Walgreens did not list the same requirements.
Individuals who called Brooklyn Pharmacy, a Health Mart affiliate in southeastern Portland, were greeted with a voice recording on Tuesday stating that the pharmacy would set aside specific days each week this month to allow teachers to schedule appointments. vaccination.
The recording indicated that it was unclear when seniors would again be eligible to apply for COVID-19 vaccine appointments through the pharmacy, instead recommended that Oregon seniors continue to check the pharmacy website for any changes in criteria.
“If you are over 65 and you are not a child care provider or educator, these days will not be available to you,” said the voice recording.
Kristen Breland, a spokesman for Health Mart, said the pharmacy chain prioritized educators for vaccine appointments on Monday and Tuesday this week to meet federal requirements, but planned to open appointments for other eligible Oregon residents in the end From this week. She said the pharmacy was evaluating additional days this month, where she would prioritize scheduling teachers for vaccinations.
“As a pharmacy partner of the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program, Health Mart supports management’s guidance to prioritize doses for educators, employees and childcare workers from pre-school through the age of 12,” she said by email. “We apologize for the patients’ frustrations.”
A spokesman for Safeway and Albertsons did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The new federal orientation that prioritizes the attendance of teachers in these pharmacies runs until the end of March. It appears that it will be up to individual pharmacies to determine how to interpret federal guidelines, in the absence of any additional clarification requested by state leaders.
“We recognize that jurisdictions are at different stages of vaccinating priority populations and, in some states, this includes teachers, school staff and daycare centers,” said Kate Grusich, spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in one and email on Tuesday afternoon. “The CDC will continue to work closely with pharmaceutical partners in each state and territory to assess and achieve the objectives of the directive, while ensuring that vaccine use is maximized among other priority jurisdictional groups.”
The change in orientation is once again frustrating the elderly and advocates who were initially furious at Brown’s decision in January to prioritize teachers for vaccination to the detriment of the elderly. Teachers in Oregon have been eligible for vaccines since January 25, while seniors aged 80 and over did not become eligible until February 8, and those aged 65 and over did not become eligible until March 1.
A February 20 analysis by The Oregonian / OregonLive showed that Oregon ranked third among 31 states with comparable data for the percentage of elderly people who were vaccinated.
Approximately 44% of Oregon seniors aged 65 and over have already been vaccinated, according to data from the Oregon Health Authority. Similar data were not available on the percentage of Oregon teachers who were vaccinated.
The Oregon Health Authority announced earlier this week that it is providing major clinic providers with at least 15,000 doses of COVID-19 a week for three weeks to vaccinate elderly people aged 65 and over in Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas and Columbia counties. .
However, many Oregon seniors struggled when trying to schedule vaccine appointments directly across the state during the past month as it was inundated with nomination requests, which spawned a new lottery system for the Oregon Convention Center. Pharmacies have proven to be a welcome alternative for the elderly who were able to schedule limited appointments.
Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen sent letters on Saturday to Safeway and Albertsons pharmacies and other participants in the federal program, urging them to continue to maintain open hours for the elderly. The Oregon Health Authority is also requesting further clarification from the federal government about the new guidance, according to Delia Hernández, a spokeswoman for the agency.
“In Oregon, (teachers and childcare providers) have been eligible for vaccination since January 25 and we believe that most have scheduled an appointment or received a vaccine, when desired, at this time,” Hernández said by email. “OHA has requested that participating pharmacies continue to guarantee access for all eligible individuals in Oregon. However, we are aware that pharmacies are addressing this guidance from the CDC in several ways. “
Edie Rogoway, a Portland criminal defense attorney, is one of dozens of formal and informal volunteers who have helped Oregon seniors to apply for COVID-19 vaccine nominations. Rogoway said the elderly seem to have ceased to be eligible for vaccine appointments at pharmacies on Monday.
Rogoway said she was shocked and disappointed that Oregon’s elderly, who are most at risk of dying from the virus, would be excluded from consultations just when they finally began to have access to vaccines.
She blamed Brown for not seeking clarification about the new guidance beforehand and for working with the federal government to ensure that seniors are not prevented from receiving vaccines at pharmacies.
“I think, at the very least, the governor could and should have communicated with them and said, ‘Listen, we prioritize our teachers first,'” said Rogoway. “’They’ve been getting the vaccine for weeks. Only now are we reaching the elderly. We need some kind of exemption or workaround. ‘”
– Jamie Goldberg | [email protected] | @jamiebgoldberg