PORTLAND, Oregon — Gov. Kate Brown announced Friday that the state created a website for veterans and others excluded from the state's COVID-19 vaccine lottery and county prizes.
Oregon created the website because the federal government does not share the names and addresses of those who got their shots at the Department of Veterans Affairs with state governments. Around 44,000 people received their vaccination through the VA.
People who live in Oregon, but got shots outside of the state can also use the new website to enter their names into the lottery.
How to enter your name into the lottery
When you go to Oregon's new website, scroll down to the headline that says "Out of state and federal vaccinations." Click on the link in that section and answer the prompted questions.
The next vaccine lottery drawing is June 28. People who want to be included in the lottery must get a vaccine dose by June 27.
Vaccination update
Oregon is using the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's COVID-19 tracker website site to keep the running total of how many new people 18 and older get shots in the state. It’s the official total that tells state leaders how close we are to the governor's 70% vaccination goal. State leaders use the site because it collects both state and federal vaccinations.
However, there's a problem. The number posted on Friday is the same number that was posted on Thursday, which is not correct.
Gov. Brown said she is frustrated the site is not working.
"You must have heard me screaming. I am obviously concerned. I expect it to be fixed in the next day or so,” Gov. Brown said.
The Oregon Health Authority's leader in charge of vaccinations, Dave Baden, said the issue is apparently a data transfer problem within the CDC system.
“I know that CDC is working with their staff to fix that as soon as possible. Oregon is not the only state impacted it looks like it has impact across the board,” said Baden.
He said Oregon is roughly 90,000 people away from hitting the governor's vaccination goal, which will drop most COVID-19 restrictions.
Baden said Oregon’s internal numbers are not impacted and they're keeping a rough, running total of vaccinations.
New cases and hospitalizations
This past week, Oregon saw a 26% drop in new COVID-19 cases compared to the week before, according to State Epidemiologist Dr. Dean Sidelinger. It is the sixth week of falling case numbers.
Dr. Sidelinger said hospitalizations are down 24% over the previous week and deaths are down 60% over the week before.
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