PORTLAND, Ore. — UPDATE March 23:
OHA on Tuesday says 20 counties can now expand their COVID vaccine eligibility pool. Click here for the full details.
Original story from March 22:
The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) on Monday announced that 14 Oregon counties have submitted attestation letters to the state and can immediately begin offering available vaccines to the next eligibility groups.
Those counties are Baker, Benton, Deschutes, Grant, Jefferson, Lake, Lincoln, Malheur, Marion, Morrow, Polk, Umatilla, Union and Yamhill.
Officials in those counties said they asked for permission to advance early after providers informed them vaccine appointments were sitting empty for days on end.
"[One provider] called me and said 'Hey, it's been four days, and we're not completely full yet," said Katrina Rothenberger, public health division director for Marion County Health and Human Services. "So, by opening up to the next group in the sequencing, we're able to fill those appointments and get those shots into arms quickly."
The counties will begin vaccinating people in Group 6 of Phase 1B, which includes the following:
- Adults ages 45 to 64 with one or more underlying condition with increased risk.
- Migrant and seasonal farm workers
- Seafood and agricultural workers
- Food processing workers
- People living in low-income, senior congregate and independent living facilities
- Sheltered and unsheltered individuals experiencing houselessness
- People displaced by wildfires
- Wildland firefighters
- Pregnant women 16 and older
Those groups will become eligible for vaccines statewide on March 29.
A rep for the Oregon Health Authority added people who qualify for Group 6 but don't live in one of the 14 counties can still make an appointment to get vaccinated in one of the counties that has advanced.
"Oregonians do not have restrictions based on their home address where they may be eligible to schedule a vaccination appointment, once they become eligible to receive a vaccination," said Rudy Owens, Public Affairs Specialist with the OHA.
OHA said the state’s Get Vaccinated Oregon tool is being updated to accommodate the new people eligible for vaccination.
New cases and deaths
OHA on Monday reported two more deaths due to COVID-19 and 178 new cases of the virus.
The state’s death toll is now 2,365 people and the total number of known cases is now 161,706.
The new cases are in the following counties: Benton (8), Clackamas (29), Columbia (3), Coos (8), Curry (8), Deschutes (6), Douglas (10), Jackson (6), Jefferson (2), Josephine (10), Klamath (9), Lake (1), Lane (16), Lincoln (1), Linn (4), Marion (23), Multnomah (24), Polk (1), Tillamook (4), Washington (2) and Yamhill (3).
Vaccinations
Oregon has now administered a total of 757,970 first and second doses of Pfizer, 740,155 first and second doses of Moderna and 32,022 single doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.
As of Monday, 901,485 doses of Pfizer, 902,200 doses of Moderna and 54,700 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines have been delivered to sites across Oregon.