UPDATE: State health officials confirmed the tri-county region is receiving 17,220 doses next week for 1a workers and that roughly 13,880 doses represented new doses. The state is able to direct those additional doses to the region due to a 10,000 dose increase from Moderna versus the prior week combined with reducing doses to counties that had completed 1a populations.
One day after tri-county health officers said tens of thousands of health care workers may wait weeks or months to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Kate Brown said the state will send 17,000 additional COVID-19 vaccine doses to the Portland area next week expressly for those workers.
The governor’s announcement Wednesday means the region will receive more than double its expected delivery next week, a quick pivot by the state after the tri-county health officer during a Tuesday news conference called the failure to vaccinate health care workers a “very dark, low day.”
Five hours after announcing via Twitter that she would direct 17,000 additional doses to the metro region, Brown’s office revealed how the governor was able to make it happen: Moderna boosted the state’s overall allotment.
As a result, the Portland region will now receive 32,000 doses next week instead of the originally planned 15,000. Of those, 17,000 will be for people in phase 1A, such as health care workers, while 15,000 will be earmarked for day care workers, pre-kindergarten employees and educators.
It’s not immediately clear how the governor’s announcement will impact vaccinations for health care workers and others in phase 1A beyond next week, nor if the increased supply from Moderna will continue in coming weeks.
A Multnomah County spokesperson said the infrastructure is in place to get shots in arms as soon as possible: All that was missing was the vaccines.
“We want to thank Gov. Brown and the Oregon Health Authority for hearing our concerns and responding to the unique challenges of vaccinating the very large eligible groups in the state’s healthcare and education hubs in and around Portland,” Deborah Kafoury, Multnomah County’s chair, said in a statement. “We know vaccines are in short supply, and we need to work together to prevent severe illness and death.”
Tri-county health officials who called Tuesday’s news conference effectively pressured Brown and the Oregon Health Authority to deliver more doses to the region. They warned that health care workers waiting since December to schedule vaccine appointments would likely get leapfrogged by educators, who became eligible statewide Monday. They said the metro area had asked for more doses but hadn’t heard a response yet.
Officials said a survey launched Jan. 12 to help vaccinate health care workers not affiliated with major medical giants was effectively a failure. Some 60,000 people signed up expressing interest in obtaining a vaccine, but just 11,000 were able to schedule an appointment.
County leaders weren’t able to say whether those 11,000 workers have been vaccinated. They scrapped the survey altogether in favor of a new a one-stop shop website where educators and remaining Phase 1A workers can schedule appointments.
The metro area’s vaccination woes were more pronounced than other parts of the state. Local officials have yet to reach enough people in phase 1A even as counties in central Oregon and along the coast open vaccinations to seniors 75 and older weeks ahead of the statewide schedule.
At least 15 of Oregon’s 36 counties told the state as of Wednesday they are finished vaccinating Phase 1A. At least one county not in that group, Lincoln County, is also vaccinating seniors.
“Other counties have done a fantastic job and have finished their first round of vaccines for Phase 1A populations,” the governor said in a social media post, “and we will push to give first doses to all Phase 1A individuals statewide before February 8.”
Although tri-county public officials said Tuesday thousands of people eligible under phase 1A had yet to be vaccinated, they have not responded to additional requests to quantify that number. As a result, it’s not clear how far the 17,000 new doses will go to address the backlog.
It doesn’t appear that other counties received fewer doses as a result of 17,000 extra doses going to the metro area.
“An increase in Oregon’s Moderna allotment from the federal government this week allowed us to send an additional 17,000 doses to the tri-county area to make better progress in vaccinating the Phase 1a population,” Charles Boyle, a spokesman for Brown, said in an email.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Oregon Health Authority said the state thus far had sent 48% of all vaccine doses to the metro region.
In her Twitter thread, Brown noted that the metro region will receive roughly 60% of all COVID-19 doses next week. Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties are home to 43% of the state’s 4.2 million population.
In a statement, Multnomah County officials said next week’s 17,000 doses will be spread among the counties. Each of the three counties will receive 2,000 doses for “focused vaccination efforts” for Phase 1A groups. An additional 11,000 doses will be earmarked for regional phase 1A vaccine efforts.
— Andrew Theen; atheen@oregonian.com; 503-294-4026; @andrewtheen