Oregon officials warn of delays as vaccine push spreads

Oregon is rolling out the vaccine and announced on Friday that it will target families of front-line workers from Monday.

However, the state is still facing challenges, breaking previous predictions that everyone who wants a shot will receive it by the end of May. Criminal: Oregon, like any other state, suffers from delays in Johnson & Johnson vaccination after millions of vaccinations have been ruined by manufacturing mistakes.

However, Oregon officials are sticking to the vaccine deployment schedule to qualify frontline workers on Monday and to qualify everyone over the age of 16 by May 1.

At a press conference on Friday, Governor Kate Brown announced that the families of frontline workers are eligible on Monday. Brown said this is part of a strategy to keep vaccine deployments “quick and fair.”

“If you are a front-line worker, make it for your whole family when you make a vaccination promise for yourself,” Brown said.

Due to duplication among eligible people for a variety of reasons, it is unclear how many more civilians will be eligible for this. For example, some frontline workers also have a basic health condition, and some household members are already qualified for their age.

Eligibility expands

On Monday, Oregon will open vaccine eligibility throughout the state to front-line workers, people aged 16-44 with underlying health, and people in multigenerational households. Frontline workers are workers of all professions who have long direct contact with people outside the home and are unable to work from home. Multi-generational households are eligible for three generations, but in some cases they can only have two generations, such as grandparents taking care of their grandchildren.

Twenty-three of the 36 counties in the state have proven and have been able to proceed to vaccination of their broader groups. The county will move to the group earlier than the state schedule only if there is a vacancy after vaccination of all the elderly who wish to receive it.

Authorities have also expanded the underlying health status of people to be targeted for early jabs with new guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its expanded list includes neurological conditions, type 1 diabetes, liver disease, substance abuse, and current or previous smoking.

The original list includes cancer, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Down’s disease, heart disease such as heart failure and coronary artery disease, weakened immunity due to organ transplantation and HIV, obesity, pregnancy, sickle cell disease, etc. Type 2 was included. Diabetes mellitus.

Authorities warn of surge

After a steady decline, the number of cases of COVID-19 is now increasing, and state officials are urging Oregons to stay socially distant, wear masks, and avoid large gatherings.

“The fourth surge of this virus is at our doorstep,” Brown said.

State epidemiologist Dr. Dean Sidelinger warned that cases have begun to increase in recent weeks. According to Sidelinger, the last weekly report across the state showed a 28% increase in 2,456 new cases.

“These show that the virus appears to be rebounding despite our progress,” says Sidelinger.

Oregon officials and others throughout the United States are concerned about the existence of variants such as the B.1.1.7 variant. It spreads more easily and is more likely to make your career a serious illness. The state is stepping up its efforts to monitor mutations through public health laboratories, the University of Oregon, the University of Oregon Health & Sciences, and Oregon State University laboratories. However, not all COVID-19 tests check for variants because the process involves genomic sequencing.

Brown said: “Don’t give us the false feeling that the vaccine and the sunny spring weather are sunny, because we are not. This virus has been proven to be mutable. I am. “

Existing vaccines are believed to be very effective against mutants, but testing on this issue is ongoing.

Johnson & Johnson Error Attacks Oregon

Oregon Health Director Patrick Allen said the state would not delay the vaccine eligibility timeline despite the loss of Johnson & Johnson supply.

Johnson & Johnson raised his eyebrows after an error in a Baltimore manufacturing plant ruined 15 million doses. Vaccine components were contaminated and human error delayed the approval of the factory production line by the US Food and Drug Administration. According to news reports.. Single-dose vaccines are the latest in obtaining federal emergency approval and are an important part of a rapid vaccination program. The other two vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna should each be given twice at intervals of several weeks.

However, the overall task of immunizing all Oregonians who wish to take it can take longer.

“It may be necessary to vaccinate all Oregons by late May and alleviate their hopes of getting it back,” Allen said.

The Johnson & Johnson dose turmoil is estimated to reduce Oregon’s April dose by 200,000 to 300,000. Allen said it was a setback on the 8th or 9th.

Next week, Oregon expects a temporary surge in 61,400 Johnson & Johnson doses in the state quota and an additional 60,000 dose surge in the federal retail pharmacy program.

This will result in state allocations of up to 275,000 doses, with doses from all three vaccine manufacturers.

Starting next week, state quotas will drop to 150,000 times a week and stay there until the week of May 3, according to Allen. At that point, if Johnson & Johnson’s supply goes back online, it will recover to about 230,000 doses, Allen said.

County immunization rates are uneven

Overall, approximately 1.2 million of Oregon’s 4.2 million inhabitants have been vaccinated at least once. This is about 28% of the state’s total population.

Children under the age of 16 are not vaccinated, but manufacturers are testing and vaccines for children may be available as early as this fall.

In March, Oregon focused most of its efforts on immunization of the elderly. Currently, about 70% of older people over the age of 65 are vaccinated throughout the state. However, authorities are concerned because prices in some counties are much lower than in others and demand is softening, Allen said.

For example, less than half of the elderly are vaccinated in the seven counties of Douglas, Gilliam, Grant, Lake, Malheur, Morrow and Umatilla. By comparison, eight counties, Benton, Deschutz, Hood River, Lane, Lincoln, Multnomah, Pork, and Tillamook, have an average immunization rate of over 70% for the elderly in the state.

“We encourage all older people who have been waiting to be vaccinated today to make reservations,” said Allen, who said the state is supporting county vaccination efforts and support efforts to encourage participation. Then he added.

State data show that of the approximately 2,400 Oregon people who died of COVID-19, approximately 91% were over 60 years of age.

Oregon Concerns Vaccine Share

Authorities said they were concerned about the allocation of vaccines by state and were seeking more information from the federal government. They are worried that Oregon may not be gaining its share in proportion to its population. But they didn’t call it unfair. The federal government controls all vaccine supplies and sends them directly to the state for redistributing to vaccination providers and institutions, while other supplies are pharmacy chains, military bases, American Indian tribes, and retirees. I also send it to the Ministry of Military Affairs. Allen said the distribution of vaccine supplies is complex and not a “straight per capita” system.

“We are worried about the number of doses we are receiving,” Allen added, adding that the state asked questions to learn more about the formula for assigning doses to the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Mr Brown said the relationship between the Oregon Legislature delegation and the state and the Biden Harris administration would be helpful if they found a problem.

“We move heaven and earth to make sure we have a fair share,” Brown said, convinced that the state would “solve this problem quickly.” He added that he was.

Washington State Deployment

Washington qualifies everyone for the vaccine on April 15th. Washington, with a population of 7.7 million, has 3.7 million doses throughout the state. Like other states, Washington has traditionally taken a step-by-step approach with priority groups.

“The federal government said vaccine allocations will continue to increase,” a Washington State Health Department official said in a news release. “This, coupled with continued efforts by state-wide providers to shoot weapons, allowed the state to qualify faster than expected to help stop the spread of the virus. “

Side-by-side comparison, CDC data show that Washington has slightly higher per capita doses than Oregon.

The rate for Oregon is 46,023 doses per 100,000 people. Federal data show that Washington has 49,185 doses per 100,000 people.

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