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The COVID-19 vaccine has arrived in Oregon. What's next?

Are hospitals using all the doses of the vaccine right away? How often will Oregon get shipments? When will OHA determine who gets the vaccine and when?

Maggie Vespa, Pat Dooris, KGW Staff

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Published: 11:14 AM PST December 15, 2020
Updated: 2:29 PM PST December 15, 2020

On Monday, a FedEx plane landed in Portland, carrying 975 doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. It was the first batch of the vaccine to arrive in the state.

A portion immediately went to Legacy Health sites in Portland and Tualatin. On Tuesday, more doses were dropped off at Oregon Health & Science University Pharmacy were set to arrive at Kaiser Permanente’s regional pharmacy warehouse in Portland and St. Alphonsus Medical Center in Ontario.

On Tuesday, the VA Portland Health Care System received 2,925 doses. A VA spokesman said vaccinations may start as soon as Thursday for a limited number of people. 

More than 19,000 additional doses will arrive at Portland-area hospitals throughout the week. And nearly 11,000 doses will go to skilled nursing facilities, with even more shipments expected to follow in the weeks ahead.

It’s been less than a year between the first case of COVID-19 in the U.S. and the first vaccine injection. Before this year, the fastest that scientists were able to manufacture a vaccine for a virus was four years. So we’re seeing a scientific wonder unfold before our eyes.

But it’s not without its hiccups and some big questions. Maybe the biggest question is who will get the vaccine next? Thirty five thousand front-line healthcare workers in Oregon are expected to get their first shot this week.

After that? It starts to get a little murky.

KGW reporter Pat Dooris talks about why we don’t know the answer yet.

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