PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) – Thirteen Oregon counties can now offer COVID-19 vaccinations to expanded eligibility groups.
The Oregon Health Authority announced Monday that Baker, Benton, Deschutes, Grant, Jefferson, Lake, Lincoln, Malheur, Marion, Morrow, Polk, Umatilla and Union counites had submitted attestation letters signaling their intention to immediately offer vaccines to people in Phase 1B, Group 6, ahead of the previously designated statewide start date of March 29. Those counties were approved by health officials.
The Get Vaccinated Oregon tool is being updated to accommodate Monday’s announcement.
OHA reported Monday that 21,629 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of that total, 14,422 doses were administered on March 21 and 7,207 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry March 21. 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.
Cumulative daily totals can take several days to finalize because providers have 72 hours to report doses administered and technical challenges have caused many providers to lag in their reporting, according to OHA.
To date, 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. OHA’s dashboards provide regularly updated vaccination data, and Oregon’s dashboard has been updated today.
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In Marion County, the different hospital systems, pharmacies and health department have used different strategies to get residents vaccinated. Marion County Public Health Division Director Katrina Rothenberger says they have had success and were ready to move to the next group of people.
“Instead of our appointments filling up in a matter of a day, they were taking a few extra days to fill those appointment slots so by moving on to group six we have some more flexibility so that we can get every single appointment slot filled in a timely manner. We want to make sure that no vaccine shot goes to waste,” Rothenberger said.
OHA encourages people to the vaccine in their own county. Oregon however does not have restrictions based on a person’s home address on where they get a vaccine.
“Residents are being encouraged to get vaccinated close to their homes since they must get their second shot at the same place they get their first shot (for persons who are receiving Pfizer and Moderna vaccines),” an OHA spokesperson said.
On Monday, OHA reported 178 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 statewide, bringing the state’s total during the pandemic to 161,706. Those cases were 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).
Two additional deaths linked to COVID-19 were also reported Monday: A 91-year-old man in Lane County who tested positive on March 2 and died on March 19 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center. He had underlying conditions; a 40-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on March 14 and died on March 20 at Salem Hospital. She had underlying conditions.
There were 116 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Oregon on Monday, which was four more than Sunday. Of those, 18 were in ICU beds, which was down four from the previous day.
For more, go to kptv.com/coronavirus or https://govstatus.egov.com/OR-OHA-COVID-19
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