Here's who is eligible for a COVID vaccine in Oregon
As of March 22, everyone in Phase 1A and groups 1-5 of Phase 1B is eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in Oregon. That includes:
- Health care workers and first responders
- Long-term care residents
- K-12 educators and school staff
- Childcare providers
- People 65 and older
In addition, counties that attest to largely completing the vaccination of residents 65 and older may begin vaccinating the next eligible groups. Vaccinations may also begin for migrant and seasonal farmworkers in counties where they are currently already working.
Where to get a COVID vaccine in Oregon and Washington
From mass vaccination clinics to pharmacies to community clinics, KGW has compiled a list of where people can get the vaccine in Oregon and southwest Washington, or how to sign up for it online. Appointment time slots have been filling up quickly, so please check scheduling portals often to secure a spot.
The sign-up process for COVID-19 vaccination in the Portland metro area changed March 1. Eligible people will be notified when a dose is available for them. The names of eligible people in the metro area will be gleaned from the Get Vaccinated Oregon database and sent to the state's partners at the Oregon Convention Center.
Here are the 13 Oregon counties approved to expand COVID vaccinations
The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) on Monday announced that 13 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 and Union.
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.
The counties will begin vaccinating people in Group 6 of Phase 1B.
12 Portland Trail Blazers players get first dose of COVID vaccine
Twelve Portland Trail Blazers players received their first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, the team announced.
The Blazers said the players were able to get the vaccine because of an excess supply of vaccines through the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, which began offering the vaccine to the general public in February.
Here is Oregon's new COVID vaccine eligibility timeline
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown released a new vaccine eligibility timeline Friday morning that moves up some eligibility dates and establishes May 1 as the date all Oregonians 16 and older will be eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
On March 29, all adults 45 to 64 who have underlying health conditions, agricultural, migrant and seasonal farm workers, people in congregate living and those experiencing homelessness will be eligible for the vaccine.
Three weeks after that, on April 19, frontline workers as defined by the CDC (including grocery workers, public transit workers and U.S. Postal Service workers — see Page 2 of the document below for a complete list), multigenerational household members and adults 16 to 44 who have underlying health conditions can start receiving the vaccine.
US data shows AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine effective for all age groups
AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine provided strong protection against sickness and eliminated hospitalizations and deaths from the disease across all age groups in a late-stage study in the United States, the company announced Monday.
AstraZeneca said its experts did not identify any safety concerns related to the vaccine, including finding no increased risk of rare blood clots identified in Europe.
Although AstraZeneca's vaccine has been authorized in more than 50 countries, it has not yet been given the green light in the U.S. — and has struggled to gain public trust amid a troubled rollout. The study comprised more than 30,000 volunteers, of whom two-thirds were given the vaccine while the rest got dummy shots.