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Oregon seniors across the state encountered major obstacles on day one, residents 80 and older could schedule COVID-19 vaccinations, metropolitan area appointments fading within hours .
In the Portland area, older people – or perhaps just as often, their adult children or young friends helping them – began flooding the state’s immunization planning website hours before he did not officially start filling out appointments at 9 am Monday.
No less than 5,500 managed to secure coveted immunization slots over the next week, but many also gave up on being defeated. After an intense two and a half hours, all online dating in Portland had been shut down for the next eight days. Online appointments were still available by calling 211, the regional resource service, in the afternoon, but many callers reported waiting hours or abrupt disruption.
Local health providers who run the two Portland-area immunization clinics could not say when the new appointments would be open for booking. It seems, however, that the next available appointments will probably not take place until Wednesday, February 17.
Greg Smith, a Milwaukie man who tried unsuccessfully on Monday to schedule his 95-year-old mother for a vaccination, said he expected the competition to get even fiercer by then. That’s because people 75 and over become eligible on February 15, swelling the Oregonians’ pool in search of rare shots. Eligibility will extend to younger age groups in the following weeks – 70 and over on February 22 and 65 and over on March 1.
“The likelihood that she will receive a vaccine next month seems to be getting lower and lower,” Smith said.
Officials at the Oregon Health Authority said this week that they had dedicated 20,000 of the first 52,500 doses arriving in the state from the federal government to people aged 80 and older. There are 168,000 seniors in this age group statewide and about 35,000 of them have already been vaccinated, most of them living in nursing homes, long-term care facilities. duration or receive home care. That leaves about 133,000 Oregonians this week in the running for the 20,000 doses.
Governor Kate Brown and Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen warned the Oregon people last Friday that there would be “hiccups” and “chaos” in the immunization planning process, and supporters criticized the state for failing to develop an adequate plan to reach the elderly. Brown and Allen have asked older residents to be patient for weeks, if not months, before being vaccinated, as federal vaccine shipments far exceed demand.
Due to a rambling and sometimes weak public education campaign, many people who attempted to make an appointment on Monday had a series of surprises. Some weren’t aware that the scheduling process was slated to open at 9 a.m. or that in the Portland area, appointments could be made online through covidvaccine.oregon.gov and then through a “Let’s Get Started” chat tool.
Others who knew exactly where they needed to go said they had also encountered obstacles, such as web pages that would not take the next step for them to make an appointment.
“I would describe it as a wasted and very frustrating day,” said Darlene Carlson, an 80-year-old Portland resident who waited 2.5 hours after calling 211. The line finally hung up, she said.
“I just don’t think it should be that difficult,” Carlson said.
Carlson also said she tried to book an appointment online but continued to run into a page that asked her to enter a Legacy Health username and password that she didn’t had not. Her adult daughter encountered the same hurdle and Carlson said she couldn’t call anyone from her health care provider, Kaiser Permanente, who could help her.
Another big surprise came for those who were able to make appointments. Although the governor of Oregon has said the state’s oldest residents will be eligible for vaccinations as of Monday, same-day appointments were not available at the two vaccination clinics in the area. Portland at the Oregon Convention Center and Portland International Airport.
With the exception of a lonely appointment on Tuesday, which seemed like a fluke that local health providers couldn’t explain, the first appointments were available from Wednesday.
It is not known how many seniors – if any – in Oregon were shot on Monday. The Oregonian / OregonLive has requested this information from the Oregon Health Authority, but a spokesperson for the agency said he could not yet say.
In some rural parts of the state, older people have faced dead ends with no immediate prospects of getting gunshots in the arm. Some counties told seniors they were on the waiting list or told them to fill out an interest form and officials would be in touch.
Meanwhile, southern Oregon health care provider Asante, who has vaccinated residents of Jackson and Josephine counties, said he could not provide first doses this week for seniors or to anyone after the Oregon Health Authority cuts their weekly supply.
“Our goal is to vaccinate anyone who wants to be vaccinated, but our hands are tied for lack of vaccine,” Asante spokeswoman Lauren Van Sickle said in an email.
“The state did not explain to us why the first dose allocations were not sent to us,” she added. “However, we are very aware that the Portland area has received more doses.”
The state – or more specifically Brown – has been the subject of criticism for weeks now over the vaccine rollout. Brown and health officials are scrambling to reserve vaccines for the elderly in part because of the governor’s decision to make around 152,000 daycare, preschool, and kindergarten to grade 12 workers eligible for a first dose on Jan.25 . This is despite a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in January to immediately begin immunizations for Americans aged 65 and older. Oregon is among the very last in the country to open vaccination to all seniors.
Allen, the director of health authorities, said last week that it could be early May before the state has enough vaccines to fully inoculate two doses of 75% of people aged 65 and over who want them. . He said the state could open eligibility to people with underlying illnesses and some essential workers in early April – and to the general population by July.
The process for booking immunization appointments varies from county to county. The state has implemented covidvaccine.oregon.gov, which includes a link with more links to county websites, some of which include information on how to schedule appointments. Residents who are unsure if they are eligible can also find out if they are eligible by visiting the state’s website getvaccinated.oregon.gov.
Residents can also email [email protected] with questions or call 211 to make an appointment in certain areas of the state.
Despite the problems many faced on Monday, thousands more were able to secure appointments.
Peggy Sigler, who lives outside Canby, said she booked a time slot for a 92-year-old parent who had mobility issues. It was a relief, she said, to secure a slot at the airport drive-through site. But she still fears that it will be an ordeal lasting several hours that will expose her and her loved one to prolonged contact inside a car before either one is vaccinated.
She thinks it would be a good idea for public health officials to provide clinics across the region so elderly residents don’t need to travel that far.
But it is not lost on her that her family is one of the lucky ones. Sigler said she knew many other older people might not have been able to find a date – and that there might not be anyone in their lives who could help them.
“She doesn’t use a computer,” Sigler said of her parent. “… A flip phone is the breadth of its technology.”
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– Aimee Green; [email protected]; @o_aimee
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