(Update: More OHA Information)
The state is also seeing the first ‘breakthrough cases’ involving fully vaccinated people
BEND, Oregon. (KTVZ) – Federal COVID-19 vaccine shipments continue to increase and Oregon will continue to lower the eligibility age from 80 to 75 on Monday as planned, health officials said Friday. They also noted that four fully vaccinated residents of Willamette Valley have been diagnosed with mild cases, which they say is not unexpected.
“It’s a serious but not surprising development,” Patrick Allen, director of the Oregon Health Authority, told reporters, reporting two such cases in Linn County and two in Yamhill County to residents more than two weeks after their second. and last dose.
Allen said the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are very effective, but “even with 95 percent effectiveness, some people will get sick. This is common with all vaccines. “
While demand continues to outpace available doses, Allen said the state is still on track to vaccinate 75 percent of all Oregonians eligible for the vaccines, including seniors, in early April.
As of the end of this week, more than 500,000 Oregonians will have received at least their first of two doses, representing 70 percent of the 720,000 people eligible for the Phase 1a and 1b categories. The state’s latest seven-day moving average is 17,000 shots per day.
Starting next week, Oregon will receive an additional 3,000 doses of Moderna vaccine, while an additional 6,000 doses will be sent to Oregon federally qualified health centers.
With the federal launch of the retail pharmacy program this week, more than 120 pharmacies across the state (primarily Safeway, Albertson’s and Costco for now) are also starting to receive vaccines, but at just 100 doses per site per week, so far are in more demand than stocks .
Thousands of doses also go to mass vaccination centers, such as in the Portland area and the Redmond site.
While news from President Biden on Thursday of ordering 200 million additional doses is welcome news, the reality is that those added doses are still “months away,” Allen said.
Allen said that with enough supplies to hit a target of 25,000 vaccinations a day, the state is on track to achieve “community immunity” by the fall.
Dr. Dean Sidelinger, a state health officer, said the trend of decreasing daily cases continues. In early January, the seven-day moving average was 1,149 cases – as of Thursday, it’s down nearly 50 percent to 551. On Monday, the number of new cases was the lowest of 305 since Oct. 19.
The state reported 517 new cases on Friday, bringing the total to nearly 150,000, but hospital admissions have fallen from nearly 600 at its peak to 209 today. The number of COVID-19-related deaths has responded to nearly 300, but the percentage of positive tests has dropped to 4.2 percent.
Still, Sidelinger said it’s still a long way to go, with 27 counties still falling into the Extreme or High Risk categories, based on case numbers and other data. He noted that as more companies reopen, even to a limited extent, the number of cases is likely to increase again.
The four “breakthrough cases” of people diagnosed with COVID-19 more than two weeks after their second injection involve people with no or mild cases, Sidelinger noted, and although not unexpected, they are being investigated to determine their origin.
Allen stressed, “We are still not going back to the old situation.”
More information from OHA on Friday:
Beginning Monday, February 15, people in Oregon who are 75 or older will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations.
Eligible adults can use the following resources to be linked to vaccine information in their community. Scheduling tools are available with new appointment units at 9am Monday and Thursday:
- Get vaccinated Oregon: Find answers to basic questions to find out if you are eligible and get information about vaccinations in your country. You can also sign up for alerts to be notified of upcoming vaccination events or to see when you may be eligible. Find this tool at covidvaccine.oregon.gov or getvaccinated.oregon.gov.
- Vaccine information chatbot The website covidvaccine.oregon.gov is available to find out if you are a candidate for a vaccine in Oregon or to get answers to other questions about vaccines. If you live in Clackamas, Columbia, Marion, Multnomah, or Washington counties, you can schedule vaccination appointments with the Vaccine Information chatbot. The friendly bot vaccine information tool is an orange box that appears when you open the covidvaccine.oregon.gov website.
- 211: Text ORCOVID to 898211 for updates by text / text about vaccination clinics in English or Spanish or send an email to [email protected]. If you are unable to answer your COVID-19 vaccine question on the website, by text message, or by email, please call 211 or 1-866-698-6155, open daily from 6am to 7pm including holidays. Keep in mind that waiting times can be long due to high call volumes.
Today, the Oregon Health Authority and its partners provided an update on COVID-19 vaccinations and more. The recording (including ASL interpretation) is available here, and the slides from today’s briefing are here.
Among the topics discussed was a new partnership. The Federal Retail Pharmacy Program is a collaboration between the federal government, states and territories, and 21 national pharmacy partners and independent pharmacy networks to improve access to COVID-19 vaccination across the country.
- The program comes online this week in Oregon. Shipments arrived at 127 pharmacies in Oregon on Feb. 10.
- This program offers locations in 27 of Oregon’s 36 counties. These locations include 103 Safeway / Albertson locations, 13 Costco locations and 11 Health Mart pharmacies (independent affiliates).
- The trading partners in this program will screen for the appropriate age range under the Oregon vaccine plan, starting with people 75 and older.
Eligible Oregonians can book appointments on these retailers’ websites, but keep in mind that each site currently only receives 100 doses per week. That means there won’t be enough vaccines to immunize all eligible Oregonians at these locations.
The websites of the pharmacy chains are as follows; Individual Health Marts should be contacted directly:
Due to the limited federal supply to these pharmacies, you can also visit covidvaccine.oregon.gov to see your eligibility, sign up for notifications, and get connected to county-specific information about vaccinations.
Most people now know that masks are one of the most important tools we have for protecting ourselves and others from COVID-19. Even with more and more people being vaccinated, masks will remain a regular part of our lives.
Masks work best when everyone wears them consistently and correctly. The CDC has updated its guidelines on how well your mask fits and filters the air, and how many layers it has.
Two ways to help protect your mask
- Make sure your mask fits snugly against your face
- Choose a mask with layers or wear a disposable mask under a cloth mask
OHA today announced the discovery of four “breakthrough” cases of COVID-19. These are instances where a person has tested positive for COVID-19 at least 14 days after completing their vaccination series.
Two of the cases are in Yamhill County and two in Lane County. OHA is working with local public health officials to investigate its origins. Their illnesses range from asymptomatic to mild symptoms.
Genome sequencing is underway and we expect results next week.
Such cases are not unexpected. Both COVID-19 vaccines are very effective, but even with vaccines that are 95 percent effective, some people will get sick. This is common with all vaccines.
Clinical trials with both vaccines currently in use include breakthrough cases. In those cases, although the participants received COVID-19, the vaccines reduced the severity of the disease. Based on what is known about vaccines for other diseases and early data from clinical trials, OHA experts believe that the existing vaccines are very effective.
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