Oregon immunizes its first healthcare workers against COVID-19 Wednesday, 2 days after vaccines arrived

Five healthcare workers at a North Portland hospital on Wednesday ceremonially were billed as the first people in Oregon to be injected with the new COVID-19 vaccine -- marking the beginning of a massive effort to inoculate at least 3 million Oregonians in the coming six to nine months.

“3 - 2 - 1 - GO!” said a spokesman at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, as five medical workers sitting in a row of seats were simultaneously injected with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at 11:08 a.m.

Masked onlookers erupted in applause and cheers.

Although the livestreamed vaccinations were deemed the first in Oregon, Saint Alphonsus Medical Center in Ontario was actually the first to start immunizing healthcare workers against COVID-19 Wednesday morning at about 9 a.m. President and Chief Nursing Officer Dina Ellwanger said 20 medical workers had received inoculations in the first two hours of her hospital’s vaccination clinic.

Initial shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine left for all 50 states Sunday from Pfizer’s Michigan plant and the first vials arrived in Oregon early Monday morning, with Oregon becoming the 49th state in the country to start immunizations.

When questioned by a reporter about the timing, Oregon Health Authority director Patrick Allen said the delay is not an indication of any problems in distributing or administering the vaccine. Rather, he characterized the state’s timing as “common.”

“This is going to rollout rapidly,” Allen said.

Gov. Kate Brown’s office coordinated the long-anticipated vaccination event Wednesday, saying inoculation of the state’s first healthcare workers marks the beginning of a new chapter in the pandemic. Nearly 17 million Americans have been infected with the coronavirus and more than 300,000 have died as scientists raced to develop a vaccine in record-setting time.

“This is truly the moment that we have all been waiting for,” Brown said.

“The delivery of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine brings an overwhelming sense of hope and a promise to us all,” she added.

In all, Allen said 4,875 doses of the vaccine have made it to four hospital systems in the state: Legacy, Oregon Health & Science University, Saint Alphonsus and Kaiser Permanente.

The 4,875 doses falls far short of the 35,100 doses the Oregon Health Authority had previously said it expected for this week.

“This is the amount that we were able to get in the federal system, and we distributed it to the five hospitals that have ultra-cold storage capabilities,” he said.

Allen initially provided an incorrect number during Wednesday’s news conference about how many doses had arrived and said he expected more vaccines would arrive next week and the week after. The agency later sent out a statement correcting his figures and saying the state expects to receive all 35,100 doses this week.

Allen’s count doesn’t appear to include vaccines that were shipped Tuesday to a federal facility, the Portland VA Medical Center. A spokesman for the VA Portland Health Care System, which operates the medical center, said the system received 2,925 doses. Some of those doses, however, will be given to veterans at a nursing home in Vancouver.

By month’s end, Allen said the state’s hospitals and long-term care facilities will have received 228,400 doses -- enough to vaccinate up to about 114,200 Oregonians. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the Moderna vaccine, which is expected to be approved later this week, require two doses to be fully effective.

Legacy, OHSU, Saint Alphonsus and the VA Medical Center started vaccinations Wednesday. Kaiser plans to start Friday.

Mayra Gomez, a nurse in the intensive care unit at Legacy Emanuel, was one of the first five at her hospital to be immunized.

“I’m taking this vaccine for my family and also for my community,” Gomez said. “As a Hispanic nurse, this is disproportionately affecting people of color and I want to lead by example.”

Of the more than 96,000 Oregonians who are known to have been infected by the coronavirus, about 30% of them are Latino. Health experts say building trust within this and other minority groups is key to reaching herd immunity through vaccinations.

Ansu Drammeh, a cardiovascular ICU nurse at OHSU, became the first to receive the vaccine there. He, too, said he wants to be a role model. He is Black and an immigrant from West Africa.

“As healthcare workers we have to be the role model for the public, for our patients, for our family,” Drammeh said. He said one of the first things patients will ask their healthcare providers is “have you taken it yourself? Your answer better be ‘Yes, I have.’”

Manjula Raghu said she volunteered to be one of the first to get the COVID-19 vaccine after her manager asked who wanted a shot. Raghu oversees about 200 Legacy Emanuel and Randall Children’s Hospital housekeeping staff and said she wanted to show them the vaccine is safe.

Raghu, 65, said she also wanted to get a vaccine as soon as possible to better protect her husband, who she said got a heart transplant 21 years ago and is now very ill.

“If he gets it, he will never come back,” Raghu said.

Allen, the director of the Oregon Health Authority, said the pandemic has been responsible for a devastating 9 1/2 months.

Since Oregon’s first case was diagnosed 292 days ago, Oregon has identified roughly 97,600 more and 1,262 people had died as of Wednesday. By April 1, the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington projects the death toll to more than quadruple in the state -- to about 5,100, even with a “rapid vaccine rollout.”

It’s expected to take until April, May or June before most of the general population has access the vaccine.

The mood at Wednesday morning’s vaccination event at Legacy Emanuel was characterized by a see-saw of anticipation, anxiety, focus and joy.

Kelley Callais was one of five healthcare workers responsible for administering the historic shots at the facility.

Four syringes lay parallel to each other on the table in front of her, next to a tray with two purple-capped vials of the COVID-19 vaccine and three pink-capped vials of a liquid to dilute the vaccine.

She held a vaccine vial in her left hand and, with her right, carefully drew out 0.3 milliliters of liquid.

“I just wanted to get it right,” Callais said in an interview after the vaccination event.

After a raucous hour of preparation, the two dozen or so people in the room were silent in anticipation of the shots. At the end of the spokeperson’s countdown, the injections went in.

Callais jumped and pumped her fist in the air after injecting the vaccine into the upper left arm of the worker assigned to her, an emergency room nurse.

That nurse, Jamie Carlson, stared straight ahead, then lifted her other arm in a gesture of victory and clapped.

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-- Aimee Green; agreen@oregonian.com; @o_aimee

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