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Thursday, April 15, 2021
East Oregonian
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Vaccine: Remaining J & J vaccine expires in June
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Morrow County,” Morrow
Cou nt y Com missioner
Melissa Lindsay said. “This
is really depressing and
disappointing and frustrat-
ing. We really want to get
people vaccinated so we can
keep moving forward, and as
we see (coronavirus cases)
going up around the state,
it’s just concerning.”
Officials had only used
“about 800 doses” of the
Johnson & Johnson vaccine
at the clinics, said Lindsay,
who believes the low turnout
was partly due to vaccine
hesitancy among newly eligi-
ble groups.
“I’m definitely worried
about how this will play into
that hesitancy,” she said of
the pause.
In Umatilla County, offi-
cials will now be using
Moderna vaccines at clinics
originally scheduled with
Johnson & Johnson vaccines,
including those geared
toward agricultural workers
and local schools, according
to county health officials.
Other facilities using John-
son & Johnson will also be
halting efforts, county health
officials said.
Alisha Lundgren, deputy
director for Umatilla County
Public Health, said the pause
will not force the county
health department to cancel
events or slow its efforts.
Umatilla
County
Com m issioner George
Murdock called the latest
pause a “disaster.” He’s
concerned the pause could
drive the county’s already-
low vaccine rates further
down as cases rise elsewhere
in Oregon.
“We’re already having
difficulty trying to get a
larger percentage of our
residents to get a shot in
the first place regardless of
the manufacturer,” he said.
“Anything like this sets back
our efforts.”
In all, more than 2,200
doses of the Johnson &
Johnson vaccine have been
administered in Umatilla
County, according to state
health data. More than 800
doses of the vaccine are
on hold for the time being,
according to county officials.
Murdock estimates that
more than half of the coun-
ty’s residents are reluctant to
get the vaccine. And in recent
weeks, the health department
has consistently seen leftover
doses and open appointments
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A box of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine sits on a
counter at the Umatilla County Public Health Department on
Wednesday, April 14, 2021.
at vaccine clinics, which
officials attribute to vaccine
skepticism.
The pause comes as
Umatilla County reports
some of its lowest COVID-
19 data points since the
pandemic began and was
recently lowered by the state
to the moderate coronavirus
risk category.
The county reported 33
cases last week and 25 the
week before — the lowest
two-week total since last
spring, according to county
health data. The county also
reported a testing positivity
rate of 3% last week and has
no active COVID-19 hospi-
talizations, according to
county officials.
“The statistics for cases
and hospitalizations show
that we’re making real
(progress) with the health of
our citizens,” Murdock said.
“We don’t want to lose that
momentum.”
Morrow County
cancels FEMA clinic
The Morrow County
clinic was one of three clin-
ics nationally where FEMA
assisted local officials with
a vaccine rollout, providing
staffing and resources that
small counties typically lack.
For Lindsay, the canceled
clinic felt like a lost oppor-
tunity.
“It was a lot of people
on the ground that gave our
health department a break,”
she said. “We most likely
won’t see that kind of dedi-
cation from the federal
government to a small county
(again).”
And with cases rising
statewide and nationally, it
is concerning that “now our
ability to vaccinate is slowed
down,” Lindsay said.
The county was planning
to give its leftover doses to
Malheur County to help raise
its vaccination rates, “but
at this point that will be on
hold,” Lindsay said.
The remaining doses will
be kept in refrigerated stor-
age for the time being, but
they will expire in June, as all
Johnson & Johnson vaccines
do after three months, a
possibility Lindsay called
“concerning.”
Dr. Janet Woodcock, the
commissioner of the Food
and Drug Administration,
said at a news conference
on April 13 that the pause
is expected to last “a matter
of days.” That time frame,
however, is contingent upon
what federal officials learn
in their investigation, Wood-
cock added.
Umatilla County shifts
efforts
Lundgren said the pause
illustrates that officials are
making a painstaking effort
to ensure the vaccine’s safety
and efficacy.
“It shows that our systems
that we have in place to help
make sure that we catch
safety (concerns) are work-
ing,” she said, adding that
those systems, which report
adverse vaccine events,
“should give people even
more comfort about the
vaccine.”
The Johnson & Johnson
vaccine has recently become
a popular option focused
particularly toward agri-
cultural workers in Eastern
Oregon — a workforce hit
disproportionately hard by
the pandemic and who have
often opted for the single-
dose option because they
often can’t take time off
work, officials say.
County health officials
this week had scheduled clin-
ics at both Riverpoint Farms
and Lamb Weston in Herm-
iston, where employers had
specifically requested the
single-dose vaccine for their
workers. Though the clin-
ics are still being conducted
with the Moderna vaccine,
Fiumara said he’s worried
that the turnout could be
lower.
“Our concer n is if
anybody who turns (the
vaccine) down today because
they wanted the one dose, in
a week, if we’re allowed to
do it, are they going to come
back?” he said. “That’s the
fear.”
Last week, officials held
a clinic in Milton-Freewa-
ter where people were given
the option to choose the
vaccine they wanted. Out of
365 doses administered, 166
people chose the Johnson &
Johnson vaccine.
“Demand was going down
already,” Fiumara said of the
county’s latest vaccine rates,
which have often ranked
among the lowest in Oregon.
And most of the demand
that was left was specifically
for the Johnson & Johnson
vaccine, Fiumara said.
Murdock said he hopes
“people distinguish between
the issue with Johnson &
Johnson and not expand that
to concerns about Pfizer or
Moderna.” He said putting
numbers into perspective is
important, as the concerns
over getting COVID-19
should outweigh the concerns
over the safety of getting the
vaccine.
“The country has given
(hundreds of millions) of
vaccines, and over half a
million people have died of
COVID-19,” he said. “And
yet, incidents involving 10 or
12 people seem to be blown
out of proportion and cause
undue problems.”
Blue Mountain Community College/Contributed Photo
The Oregon Senate followed the House in passing House
Bill 5042, a spending bill that includes $542,033 to Blue
Mountain Community College to help tie up some loose
ends as it starts its new contract with the Oregon Depart-
ment of Corrections.
Funding:
Continued from Page A1
Oregon Correctional Insti-
tution, Two Rivers Correc-
tional Institution and
Powder River Correctional
Facility in Baker City came
into question in August
2020 after the DOC told
community colleges across
the state that it intended
to end all of its contracts
and move its educational
programs in-house.
BMCC and the other
community colleges rallied
to try to save their programs
before their contracts
expired in January, contact-
ing Hansell and state Sen.
Michael Dembrow, D-Port-
land, to help bring DOC to
the negotiating table.
Despite the department
halting talks at one point
and insisting its decision
was final, the two sides
eventually came to a new
agreement, albeit under
new terms. The colleges
would now contract with
the Oregon Higher Educa-
tion Coordinating Commis-
sion, which would act as an
intermediary between the
state prison system and the
schools. The DOC, would
also pay the colleges less for
their services than they had
under the old contract.
This development hurt
BMCC especially because
it has one of the larg-
est corrections education
programs in the state.
John Fields, the college’s
vice president of instruc-
tion, said BMCC is unique
in the fact that much of its
corrections faculty are full-
time staff.
“Some of them have been
there their entire careers,”
he said.
The college believes the
structure leads to better
educational outcomes for
the inmates in the program,
but it also meant BMCC
was operating its program
at a higher cost than others.
When the DOC approved
the new contract, the college
eliminated five positions,
including four faculty. As
a result, two employees
retired, one changed disci-
plines and one moved to a
part-time job.
But BMCC couldn’t
make moves until it agreed
to the new contract, which
came well after the old
contract ended in January.
Meanwhile, the college still
had to negotiate staff reduc-
tions with its faculty union.
Fields said the money
from the Oregon Legisla-
ture allows BMCC to move
forward while still honor-
ing the union contract. The
college also won’t have to
revisit the size of its correc-
tions education program
until January 2023, when
the current contract ends.
Sen. Hansell said his
next move is to ensure all
the contracts the commu-
nity colleges and DOC
agreed to are funded in the
next biennium.
HONOR THE
SENIOR IN
YOUR LIFE!
Let their
accomplishments
shine with a sign
for your yard!
CLASS OF 2021
KATIE SMITH
STANFIELD HIGH SCHOOL
CLASS OF 2021
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Members of the Hermiston School Board, Superintendent Tricia Mooney, second from right,
and future Loma Vista Elementary School Principal Joshua Browning, right, pose for a pic-
ture at the groundbreaking of the new elementary school on Tuesday, April 13, 2021.
Schools:
ALICE SMITH
HERMISTON HIGH SCHOOL
CLASS OF 2021
Continued from Page A1
those who helped get an $87.2
million bond passed in 2019
to fund the new schools. The
bond is also paying for the
new softball complex, a new
annex adding classrooms
at Hermiston High School,
purchase of additional prop-
erty for future schools, and
improvements to the parking
and drop-off areas of several
schools.
Wenaha Group has served
as project managers for the
bond, and BBT Archi-
tects did the design for the
schools. Construction of both
elementary schools will be
handled by Kirby Nagelhout
Construction.
“I’m looking forward to
having students here instead
of sand and sagebrush,”
JOHN SMITH
PENDLETON HIGH SCHOOL
*photos and names for illustrative purposes only.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Hermiston School District Superintendent Tricia Mooney
speaks to attendees at the groundbreaking for Loma Vista
Elementary School in Hermiston on Tuesday, April 13, 2021.
Mooney said.
T he school dist r ict
recently named Josh Brown-
ing as principal of Loma
Vista. While the school is
being built, he will work
on staffing the school and
making other preparations
needed before its opening.
Br ow n i ng, who i s
currently an instructional
coach for the district, said he
is excited to see work start on
the building.
To place your order,
contact Audra Workman today!
541-564-4538
aworkman@eastoregonian.com