PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon's biggest health care providers plan to launch mass vaccination events at the Oregon Convention Center starting this week.
The idea is to pool vaccine doses from each system for easier, faster distribution. Kaiser Permanente, Legacy Health, OHSU and Providence are all collaborating.
Kaiser and OHSU will launch the site on Wednesday, January 20 for 1a eligible community members. Vaccinations will be by appointment only. Both groups said they would administer as many doses as supply will allow. They will release more details in the coming days.
Legacy Health's Chief Operating Officer Trent Green spoke at Gov. Kate Brown's news conference Friday, reiterating plans for mass vaccinations are still on, despite news that a federal reserve supply of vaccines is no longer coming to Oregon. He said the plan is to eventually ramp up to 25,000 vaccinations per day.
"Based on what we now know, we're going to start with a model that administers 5,000 vaccines a day, with a plan to scale to 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 or even 25,000, to the degree the federal government and the state of Oregon can deliver vaccines," Green explained.
Metro said lending its Oregon Convention Center and Portland Expo Center facilities to the vaccination effort is the right thing to do.
“Saying it’s a difficult year for OCC and Expo is an understatement. We lost hundreds of colleagues in layoffs...The path to reopening is through vaccines and it means so much to be a part of that,” Metro COO Marissa Madrigal said in a news release.
In addition, OHSU said this weekend it will again host invite-only, drive-through COVID-19 vaccination clinics for about 3,000 SEIU 503 and independent home health care workers, first responders and community health workers at its Hillsboro Stadium and Convention Center sites. Last weekend, OHSU employees volunteered to help direct, register, vaccinate and monitor 2,194 people in these groups.
KGW also reached out to Salem Health, which is helping run the vaccine clinic at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in collaboration with Marion County and the National Guard. Salem Health reported vaccinating more than 2,000 per day over the last few days, with help from 64 airmen.
"That effort has allowed them pretty much to double their capacity," said Oregon Adjutant General Mike Stencel.
Salem Health broke down the numbers over the last week since the fairgrounds clinic launched. It said technicians at the site administered more than 14,500 doses of vaccine, not counting the latest numbers on Friday.
"Vaccines mean hope and health, which is our mission," Salem Health spokesperson Lisa Wood said. "There is a deep pride in bringing those things to our community and it translates to action. It’s been fun and encouraging to see people filled with hope. Tears of joy have been a common sight."
The numbers below show approximate doses given out each day at the fairgrounds:
- Thursday, January 7: 1,701 doses
- Friday, January 8: 2,122 doses
- Saturday, January 9: 1,906 doses
- Sunday, January 10: 2,564 doses
- Monday, January 11: Closed
- Tuesday, January 12: 1,533 doses
- Wednesday, January 13: 2,300 doses
- Thursday, January 14: 2,383 doses
- Friday, January 15: to be determined
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar announced Tuesday more locations for people to get shots, including community health centers, pharmacies and mass vaccination sites.
The Oregon Primary Care Association (OPCA) represents 33 county and community health centers.
"Health centers are trusted health care providers and they have a mission of health equity and decreasing health disparities in communities," said OPCA executive director Joan Watson-Patko. "They've also been working with the populations most at risk during the pandemic."
Those populations include minority groups that have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 nationwide, with more cases and deaths per capita.
Advocates have explained many people in historically underserved communities have less trust in government and health systems, so clinics run by people in their neighborhoods can more easily gain trust.
"They're really able to outreach to those communities that have historically had the most hesitancy for vaccinations," Watson-Patko said.
Pharmacy groups are also pushing for a more active role to vaccinate people in the first priority groups. However, vaccine supply and timing of distribution are ongoing challenges.