SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2020
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It may take a year to vaccinate all Oregonians
Tracy Loew
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
It could take a year for all Oregonians
to get the COVID-19 vaccine, and the
state likely won’t achieve so-called com-
munity immunity until late summer.
Oregon doesn’t know how much vac-
cine it will receive, or when, beyond its
initial allocation this month, Gov. Kate
Brown said during a news conference
Friday.
That initial allocation is 147,000 dos-
es of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines,
all of which will go to hospitals.
The federal government has said a
steady stream of vaccines will flow to
states, based on their populations. But
state officials say they’re already hearing
of supply problems.
“Until we see vaccines show up on the
loading dock, I would not want to make a
prediction,” said Pat Allen, Oregon
Health Authority director.
Even if the state gets enough, the
sheer size of the vaccination program
that needs to be stood up will put on the
brakes.
Oregon is aiming to vaccinate 10,000
people per day.
“It will take us most of the year to do
that,” Brown said.
Community immunity, or herd im-
munity, won’t be achieved until 70% of
the population is vaccinated.
State officials are asking people to
keep their guard up while they wait, by
continuing to wear masks, socially dis-
tance, and wash hands frequently.
“We have really stepped up. The
harsh reality is I’m asking everyone to
step up for a few more months,” Brown
said. “It might be most of (next) year. We
don’t know yet.”
Those precautions are working,
health officials said.
Case rates didn’t explode after
Thanksgiving, said Dean Sidelinger, the
Oregon Health Authority’s top health of-
ficer. Oregon currently has the fifth-low-
est case rate in the nation.
Still, Oregon is continuing to break
records for new cases, deaths and hospi-
talizations.
Hospitals across the state, including
in Salem, are eliminating or scaling back
elective procedures.
“Our situation remains precarious
and concerning,” Sidelinger said.
In Oregon, as in most states, the first
vaccines will go to hospital workers and
long-term care facility patients and
staff. Then, medical workers in outpa-
tient and other settings will get vacci-
nated.
Oregon will allocate the initial vac-
cines to counties based on their percent-
age of health care providers, officials
said during a vaccine briefing for report-
ers Thursday.
Major hospitals with ultracold freez-
ers will get the Pfizer vaccine. It must be
stored at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit
and comes in large lots that must be
used quickly after they are thawed.
Rural hospitals will get the Moderna
vaccine, which can be stored in a regular
freezer and comes in smaller lots.
Hospitals will decide which of their
employees receive the vaccine first.
Officials estimate about 100,000 of
the state’s approximately 300,000
health care workers will be vaccinated
by the end of 2020.
After that, the state will partner with
local public health and community-
based organizations to host vaccination
programs for the public. Even then, the
vaccines likely will go to essential work-
ers and high-risk groups first.
An advisory committee will begin
meeting in January to decide who comes
next, including who qualifies as essen-
tial workers.
During the briefing, officials said
about 5% of people who get the vaccine
will experience side effects serious
enough to keep them home from work.
That means companies may not want
to vaccinate their entire workforce on
one day.
Tracy Loew is a reporter at the States-
man Journal. She can be reached at
tloew@statesmanjournal.com,
503-
399-6779 or on Twitter at @Tracy_Loew.
Support local journalism by subscribing
to the Statesman Journal.
CEO Mickey Walker stands in front of the grandstand at Volcanoes Stadium. The team will no longer be affiliated with the San Francisco Giants after reorganization
by Major League Baseball. PHOTOS BY ABIGAIL DOLLINS / STATESMAN JOURNAL
END OF AN ERA
Volcanoes suddenly
dropped by SF Giants
after 26-season affiliation
Luis Ramirez
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
After 26 seasons, the Salem-Keizer
Volcanoes will no longer be affiliated
with the San Francisco Giants of Major
League Baseball.
The Volcanoes were one of two fran-
chises in the Northwest League — the
Boise Hawks were the other — excluded
from having a partnership with a Major
League franchise.
For Salem-Keizer, this outcome
stings as they had been affiliated with
San Francisco for two decades and
moved the franchise from Bellingham,
Wash. to Keizer to appease MLB’s up-
dated stadium policies.
“We faced something similar in 1995
when the team was in Bellingham and a
stadium didn’t meet the criteria, so we
partnered here with Salem-Keizer to
help fund the stadium,” Volcanoes CEO
Mickey Walker said. “ We would have
been willing to do the same thing this
time if we had been given an opportuni-
ty, but the fact of the matter is that we
were never given that opportunity.”
The Walker family was not kept in the
loop with the Giants or MLB about the
move despite multiple contact at-
tempts. They found out about the
change on social media when San Fran-
cisco announced they were now part-
nering with the Eugene Emeralds as
their new affiliate.
“We have not been contacted once by
Major League Baseball or by the Giants
to even officially tell us that we are no
longer affiliated with them,” Walker said
“We found out today when the Giants
tweeted who their affiliates were going
to be.
“We’ve been treated with the upmost
disrespect by San Francisco and the
MLB to have a 26-year relationship with
the Giants to not even warrant a phone
call or text message giving us a heads
up.”
With no affiliation or league, the Vol-
Northwest League championship trophies won by the Volcanoes in 2001, 2006 and 2007 are on display at the stadium.
canoes have begun to pivot, but are not
ready to release any details.
“We do know what we’re doing, but
we’re not really ready to come out with it
yet,” Walker said. “We’re going to be
waiting for a little bit because MLB
made the promise to basically help all of
the teams that they were eliminating
continue to provide baseball in their
communities.”
Boise has since joined the indepen-
dent Pioneer League, which has teams
in Idaho, Montana, Utah and Colorado.
The move to the Pioneer League was
not an option for Salem-Keizer nor was
the West Coast League, which is a col-
legiate summer league that has teams
such as the Corvallis Knights and Port-
land Pickles.
“We can’t join the Pioneer League be-
cause we’re just too far away,” Walker
said. “We’ve been involved in the West
Coast League before and that’s just not a
path we’re looking at going down as it’s
not a feasible option for us.”
The six franchises in the Northwest
League that made the cut moved up the
organizational ladder and will now be a
Single-A Advanced league and have a
full season of baseball. The amount of
regular season games will now increase
from 76 to 132 with the season running
from April to September.
“There’s still a long-term lease there
and we’re going to be playing ball there
no matter what in the upcoming years,
it’s just a matter of what it’s going to
look like,” Walker said. “We really appre-
ciate all the support that we’ve had
throughout this entire process and
we’re dedicated to continuing to fight
for this community and not let baseball
be taken away. We’re going to continue
to provide high-quality and affordable
entertainment for all and look forward
to having many more fruitful years in
the future.”