When Oregon spikes vaccine drive, the virus blocks the vaccine in four “breakthrough” cases

In Oregon, we identified four so-called groundbreaking cases that were positive for COVID-19 after vaccination with both vaccines.
Public health officials on Friday said they weren’t surprised, and the case reminds us that vaccination is not 100% effective. However, they said the vaccine has a 95% chance of being protective. And those who were subsequently vaccinated with the virus would experience weaker symptoms, they said.

Two of the groundbreaking cases were in Yamhill County and two in Lane County. State epidemiologist Dr. Dean Sidelinger said people had no or mild symptoms.

Cases are marked as breakthroughs only after the person is tested positive at least 2 weeks after complete vaccination. The breakthrough was “not unexpected,” Sidelinger said, but the state will do genomic sequencing to gather more information. So far, the number of breakthrough cases identified is small, as approximately 178,000 people in Oregon receive both doses.

Meanwhile, the deployment of Oregon vaccines continues to accelerate. Patrick Allen, director of health at Oregon, said Friday that the state “is moving at a pace of initial doses to all older people by early April.” The vaccine should be given twice at intervals of several weeks. Next week, the state will begin vaccination of people over the age of 75. This week, the state began vaccination of people over the age of 80. By the week of March 1st, senior citizens over the age of 65 are eligible.
Allen urged patience.

“I know I was disappointed that many of you couldn’t make an appointment for vaccination, but I want to let you know that you support my promise to get vaccinated. “, Said Allen.

So far, Oregon has been in priority group 1a, including seniors, K-12 employees, early childhood workers, and health care workers, staff, long-term care residents, and people, first or second. The dose is about 650,000 times. With disabled people and prisoners. Hospitals, clinics, and public health agencies receive 884,275 doses to administer.

By the end of this week, more than 500,000 Oregons will receive their first dose, unless postponed due to snowy weather, Allen said.

The state’s seven-day rolling average is 17,341 times per day.

Probably community immunity by autumn

According to Allen, Oregon needs to reach and maintain doses of at least 25,000 times a day to achieve local immunity by the fall, given a sufficient supply from the federal government. Local immunity occurs when 70-80% of the state’s population of 4.2 million is vaccinated, officials said. At that point, the virus may begin to recede because it cannot find enough hosts.

As part of the vaccination drive, according to Allen, the state will make predictable allocations to vaccination sites so that they can schedule in the coming weeks. According to Allen, the county gets doses based on population, prioritizing the distribution of retail pharmacies.

More supplies are on the way. The Federal Retail Pharmacy Program is putting more doses into the Oregon system, with 6,000 doses to state federal qualified healthcare centers that provide primary care to poorly serviced communities. The federal government counts 6 doses in each vial instead of 5 doses. This will increase the state’s weekly quota from 75,000 to over 82,000. The amount of vaccine in the vials has not changed, but authorities have determined that the vaccine equivalent to six injections was consistently available from each vial.

Introduction Pharmacy site

The Federal Retail Pharmacy Program has begun in the state. This includes 103 Safeway and Albertsons pharmacies, 13 Costco pharmacies, and 11 Healthmart pharmacies. Each pharmacy is receiving about 100 doses to get started.

Stephen Certo, head of pharmacy operations for Safeway and Albertson stores in Oregon and southern Washington, said on Friday that the company’s 103 pharmacies in Oregon were an online scheduling tool that allowed them to take and sign up. Said there is. According to Certo, if you don’t have access to the scheduling tool, you can also call the pharmacy directly.

The tool is on the corporate website https://www.albertsons.com/pharmacy/covid-19.. However, you won’t see any appointments yet available in Oregon.

Mass vaccination sites are recovering

The location of mass vaccination is another way. Wendy Watson, Chief Operating Officer of Kaiser Permanente Northwest, said mass vaccination work at the Oregon Convention Center has resulted in more than 54,000 vaccinations in the last 18 days. Its efforts include other major healthcare partners such as Oregon Health & Science University and Providence Health & Services. It is given about 4,000 doses daily and increases to about 6,000 as health authorities repeat the second dose.

Administrators will cancel vaccinations at the convention center on Friday and Saturday due to the weather and reschedule those people next week. Watson said he is working directly with those people by phone, email, and health account notifications.

Watson said the job would not lead to rescheduling or cancellation of other people who already have appointments next week.

The Oregon Department of Health has an online tool for people to get information- https://covidvaccine.oregon.gov/ -But older people and other people who do not have access to the internet have to call.

They can call the public health department, pharmacy, or 211, health information line.

Dan Herman, CEO of 211info, said his agency had accepted 30 members of the Oregon National Guard to assist in handling calls at the center. They arrived at the call center over the weekend and departed Tuesday afternoon after training.

Overall, the COVID-19 photo is brighter in Oregon. Based on case count trends, the state shifted 12 of Oregon’s 36 counties from the worst level (extreme risk) to high risk this week. This allows restaurants to expand their capacity by limiting indoor dining and fitness studios and indoor entertainment venues.

State epidemiologist Sidelinger said the number of cases and deaths has been declining since mid-November. Overall, about 2,100 people have died of COVID-19 in Oregon since the pandemic began, and about 150,000 have tested positive.

“Don’t make a mistake about it,” said Sidelinger. “Viruses are still a threat to all of us.”

A more contagious and another concern, the British variant, is in Oregon.

Even as more people get vaccinated, the road to a complete resumption of Oregon remains long.

“The mask doesn’t go away anytime soon,” said Sidelinger.

Many residents are still hesitant about vaccines

Meanwhile, state officials are aware that the high demand for vaccines will gradually diminish.

According to Allen, the state knows from the survey that about 40% of its population definitely wants the vaccine and another 40% accepts the vaccine but are uncertain.

“From those who are hesitant about vaccines, we really need to work hard to get into 40% of the vaccine shortages,” Allen said.

According to Allen, the key to achieving community immunity is the approval of vaccines for children and adolescents. The Pfizer vaccine is intended for people over the age of 16. The Moderna vaccine is for people over the age of 18. Both companies are testing how effective the vaccine is in young people.

A national survey is currently underway to vaccinate children up to the age of 12. Allen said it is important for young children to be vaccinated to help the state reach the thresholds required for local immunity. Otherwise, he said, reaching the mark of 70-80% of the total population would require near-universal support from the adult population. According to the US Census, about 840,000 Oregons (20% of the population) are under the age of 18.

As the supply of vaccines increases, Oregon has the ability to expand daily vaccination. According to Allen, there were several days in the state where about 25,000 people were vaccinated.
“We have enough ability to reach that level,” Allen said.

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