Oregon’s ability to start administering vaccines to an expanded group of people starting Jan. 23 is in jeopardy after expectations of more doses from the federal government have turned out to be false.
Earlier this week, US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar announced that an unspecified number of doses held in reserve for second doses would be released to the states. Governor Kate Brown responded on Tuesday by welcoming extra doses and announcing that all teachers and people over 65 would be eligible for the vaccine starting next Saturday, along with the arrival of more vaccines.
But Brown said on Friday that on Thursday night she learned from Operation Warp Speed’s chief of operations, Gustave F. Perna, that there is no dose reserve and that the state’s vaccine allocation will remain essentially flat. Oregon expects to see a small increase in doses.
What exactly this means for the state’s vaccination schedule is not immediately clear. Oregon is sitting on about 200,000 unused doses and could try to advance in some capacity using these regularly scheduled doses and shipments.
Brown will give a press conference at 2 pm to outline the state’s plans.
“States will not receive major shipments of vaccines from the national stockpile next week because there is no federal dose reserve,” Brown said in a series of tweets on Friday morning. “This is a nationwide mistake. Oregon’s elders, the teachers, all of us, depended on the promise that part of the federal vaccine reserve in Oregon would be released to us. “
In a letter to Azar, the Oregon Health Authority director said that if the state did not receive the increase in dose delivery, as expected, the ramifications could be dire.
“If true, this is extremely disturbing and puts our plans to expand eligibility at serious risk,” wrote Patrick Allen. “These plans were made based on your ‘release all supplies’ statement that you have in reserve. If this information is correct, we will not be able to start vaccinating our vulnerable elderly people on January 23, as planned. “
Allen, speaking on OPB’s Think out Loud program on Friday, took a step forward, saying, “This is not going to be possible now because it was completely dependent on an increase in supply.”
The confusion over the distribution of the vaccine stems from Azar’s comments on Tuesday, when he said “it is time to move on to the next phase of the vaccination campaign” and called on states to start vaccinating people aged 65 and over. Among other things, Azar said “we are releasing all the stock we have for orders by states, instead of keeping second doses in the physical reserve”.
Azar did not make it clear that the federal government had already started to ship his second dose stock, nor did he make it clear that the decision would not significantly increase the stock received by the states. Federal officials originally kept these doses in reserve to ensure that supply challenges did not prevent people who received their first injection from receiving a second booster injection several weeks later to complete the vaccination schedule.
“There was never a reason for states to need to complete vaccination for all health care providers before opening vaccination to older Americans and other vulnerable populations,” added Azar. “States should not wait to complete priorities 1A before moving on to broader categories of eligibility.”
According to The New York Times, 28 states have already started vaccinating elderly people based on their current vaccination allocations. Thirty-two significantly expanded eligibility for vaccination to include essential workers, including teachers, based on their current vaccination allocations.
But Oregon resisted vaccinating the elderly, prioritizing health professionals and residents of long-term care facilities. The state expected about 1.1 million doses by February, enough to provide two injections for all phase 1a groups estimated at 500,000 people.
In response to the federal government’s announcement, however, Brown said people aged 65 and over and teachers could be vaccinated starting January 23. State officials made the announcement despite not having clear information on how many more vaccines Oregon would receive.
“While this is an unexpected change in the course of the federal government, receiving more vaccines is good news for states – and Oregon is ready to dedicate all the resources needed to increase distribution with our health partners,” said Brown on Tuesday. -market.
Now that the state has discovered that it will not receive drastically more doses, Oregon must stop its plan to include elementary and high school educators, two groups totaling 800,000 people. Oregon currently has about 189,000 unused doses, according to its state tracking system and CDC data.
Oregon vaccination manager Rex Larsen did not receive details from federal officials until Thursday about the minimal impact of the federal government’s announcement.
“We can anticipate a 2 to 5% increase in allocations in the previous two weeks if the safety stock is released, but there is no 2nd dose stock as previously reported,” wrote Larsen to Allen in an email obtained through a public requests for records by The Oregonian / OregonLive. “The second doses were actually delivered from an early manufacturing containment and there are no stored doses available for shipment to the states.”
Larsen told Allen that Operation Warp Speed officials asked him not to ask for more information until January 21, the day after President-elect Joe Biden took office.
Questions to the Oregon Health Authority about contingency plans for bringing vaccines to teachers and seniors in Oregon were not answered immediately on Friday morning.
Senator Jeff Merkley’s office said it is in contact with the federal administration and awaits further explanation of Operation Warp Speed.
“General [Gustave] Perna and HHS Secretary Azar need to respond immediately for misleading states AGAIN – this time about supplying vaccines in the strategic reserve, hampering Oregon’s vaccination efforts, ”said Merkley in a statement to The Oregonian / OregonLive. “This is completely unacceptable. I am demanding answers. “
Senator Ron Wyden’s office said the senior senator was “taken aback” by the news.
“It’s hard to say what’s worse – the Trump administration’s lies or its incompetence,” Wyden tweeted on Friday. “Either way, your last failure to provide vaccines is completely unacceptable for Americans who rely on them. I will be pushing for answers. The new leadership cannot come soon. “
Oregonian / OregonLive reporters Aimee Green, Andrew Theen and Brad Schmidt contributed to this report.
– Kale Williams; [email protected]; 503-294-4048; @sfkale