Oregon Governor Kate Brown will not further increase COVID vaccine eligibility as of May 1, despite instructions from President Biden

Governor Kate Brown said on Friday it was too early to tell all adults in Oregon that they would be eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations starting May 1 – and that she would not speed up the current schedule for starting vaccinations despite days earlier than all states should.

Brown is sticking to his plan to begin vaccinating the general population of Oregonians 16 and older by July 1 – two months later than Biden says is now possible. But Brown said she wanted to see weekly federal vaccine shipments increase to Oregon before making any new promises to residents.

“If the doses are there, I fully intend to use all available state and federal resources to match the president’s timeline for universal eligibility,” Brown said.

Oregon Health Authority director Patrick Allen said Oregon had already been burned by the increases promised by the Trump administration that did not come in January. He wants “hard numbers on what to expect and when.”

“Until we get more clarity,” Allen said, “we need to keep our current timelines in place. We cannot disappoint people who are longing for a vaccine. “

Currently, residents 65 years of age and older, health care workers and employees of day care centers, preschools and kindergarten to grade 12 are eligible for the vaccine.

On March 29, Oregon would allow a new wave of residents to start getting vaccinated: people aged 45 and over with underlying illnesses such as cancer, type 2 diabetes and obesity. The group also includes homeless people and frontline workers, including those in agriculture and food processing. Officials said on Friday they would also grant eligibility to pregnant women aged 16 and over from March 29.

By May 1, the state plans to open vaccinations to people with underlying illnesses between the ages of 16 and 44, along with a long list of frontline workers, including grocery store workers. , restaurant and bar workers, retail store workers, bus drivers, construction workers and government. employees.

By June 1, the state plans to allow the general healthy population of Oregonians aged 45 and over to begin vaccinations. By July 1, anyone aged 16 or older should become eligible for vaccines, officials said.

Brown said if the state opens vaccinations to everyone in Oregon by May 1, it will make sure people with underlying illnesses, the homeless and frontline workers have access to the vaccine. before the healthy population does. That would likely mean bumping up the state’s current timeline for groups that are tentatively expected to become eligible on May 1 under Brown’s existing plan.

Allen said on Friday that if Oregon saw the big increases Biden promised, the state would have the vaccine site infrastructure to handle them. Allen said health care providers currently give about 24,000 injections per day and can double that to about 48,000 per day.

“Oregon is ready,” Allen said.

But to say that a site has the capacity to administer more snapshots and that it happens are two different things. At the Portland International Airport drive-thru site last Saturday, seniors and other eligible Oregonians with appointments found themselves stranded in long lines for vaccinations as site staff increased. the capacity at a record 5,800 doses in one day.

Allen said Oregon’s vaccination sites have the capacity to keep the state on track to meet its current eligibility schedule of opening vaccinations to all Oregonians 16 years and older by July, 1st. faster vaccination schedule.

As of Friday, more than 800,000 Oregonians had received at least one dose of the vaccine, leaving nearly 3.4 million people still without a vaccine. At a rate of 24,000 vaccinations per day, it would take about four and a half to nine months for everyone to be vaccinated with one to two doses.

At the rate of 48,000 vaccinations per day, this would take between two and four and a half months.

But some Oregonians will refuse to be vaccinated, and children under 16 are not currently eligible either. To achieve herd immunity, many scientists say at least 70% of people need to be vaccinated, but probably more. If Oregon doubled its current daily vaccinations, it could meet that minimum threshold for possible herd immunity by the end of June.

That could make Biden’s goal a real possibility – that Americans can begin to “mark our independence from this virus” by July 4 if they continue to follow safety precautions and get vaccinated in turn. Brown echoed this idea on Friday.

“We all hope that we can be safely reunited with our family and friends for small gatherings by July 4,” she said. “And as your governor, I will do whatever I can to make it happen.”

Coronavirus in Oregon: Recent news | Live map tracking |Text alerts | Bulletin

– Aimee Green; [email protected]; @o_aimee