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PAGE 16
Local vaccine
providers
strained after
Bi-Mart closes
pharmacies
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Amanda Waterland with St. Anthony Hospital, Pendleton, hands out winter gear Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021, to people at the Salvation
Army in Pendleton.
FIGHTING THE CHILL
St. Anthony off ers up
cold weather supplies
By BEN LONERGAN
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Hats, tents, sleep-
ing bags and other outerwear lined a
table Wednesday, Nov. 3, at the Salvation
Army in Pendleton as the St. Anthony
Hospital Community Health Outreach
program distributed winter gear and fl u
shots to the lunch hour crowd.
“We want to help out with preven-
tative care — like fl u shots,” Amanda
Waterland said.
Waterland, a community health
worker for St. Anthony Hospital, and
Jennifer Peterson, a registered nurse,
staff ed Wednesday’s event handing out
outerwear, hygiene supplies, tents and
sleeping bags. The event, which was the
fi nal of the year, served as a last chance
to distribute warm gear ahead of the cold
season.
Since the spring, the hospital outreach
program has spent the last Thursday of
each month off ering COVID-19 shots,
fl u shots, medical education and other
items to those attending the Salvation
Army’s free lunch program.
Peterson said this week’s event came
after high interest at last week’s event
caused them to run out of sleeping bags
and tents. They distributed roughly 30
sleeping bags and tents last week and
wanted an additional opportunity to
distribute more supplies before ending
the service for the year.
UMATILLA COUNTY — Bi-Mart closing
its pharmacies is aff ecting more than just local
prescriptions.
According to offi cials from Umatilla County
Public Health, the outfl ow of patients from
Bi-Mart to other local pharmacies has hurt
their ability to administer one of their key
services during the pandemic: the COVID-19
vaccine.
Public Health
Yellowhawk
Director
Joe
Fiu ma r a said
to hold
Bi-Mart pharma-
vaccination
cies weren’t just
drive next
r el i a ble va c c i-
nators, but also
week for 5-12
good partners that
year olds
would work the
department to off er
off-site vaccination clinics.When Bi-Mart
decided to shutter all of its pharmacies in the
area, the chain put pressure on other local phar-
macies just as the state is rolling out booster
shots for adults and vaccines for children as
young as 5.
Fiumara said he heard reports Safeway
temporarily stopped off ering vaccines in Pend-
leton as it dealt with an infl ux of new patients
from Bi-Mart. He added it seems like the store
has since resumed vaccine surfaces.
See Strain, Page A8
Committee sends
Sams nomination
to full U.S. Senate
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
See Supplies, Page A8
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Jennifer Peterson, left, and Amanda Waterland staff a mobile outreach clinic Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021, that St. Anthony Hos-
pital runs at the Salvation Army in Pendleton.
WASHINGTON — Chuck Sams is entering
the fi nal stages of the confi rmation process with
strong momentum.
On Tuesday, Nov. 2, the Senate Committee
on Energy and Natural Resources unanimously
voted to approve Sams’ nomi-
nation to the National Park
Service on a voice vote. Given
that senators from both parties
voiced support for Sams and
no one on the committee voted
against sending his nomination
to the full Senate, the commit-
Sams
tee vote bodes well for Sams,
a member of the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
As Sams’ home state senator, Ron Wyden,
Democrat, continued to encourage his colleagues
to support the former tribal administrator and
nonprofi t executive.
“This is an American who we’re going to be
proud of in terms of (his) service (to) parks,” he
said.
See Sams, Page A8
Booster shots spur COVID-19 vaccine uptick
Umatilla County reported
2,000-plus COVID-19
immunizations last week
— most were boosters
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Umatilla Coun-
ty’s reported COVID-19 vaccinations
more than tripled last week now that
residents can receive booster shots,
according to data from the county
health department.
A series of well-attended clin-
ics over the weekend spurred the
sky-high immunization numbers.
In all, more than 2,000 people
received shots last week, said Joe
Fiumara, the county’s public health
director.
“This did exceed expectations,”
he said.
The health department held
clinics Friday, Oct. 29, and Satur-
day, Oct. 30, in Pendleton and
Milton-Freewater. The Pendle-
ton clinics saw 452 people receive
boosters on the fi rst day and 359 the
second. But only 10 people received
fi rst or second doses on Oct. 29.
(The health department did not yet
have data for Oct. 30.)
The Milton-Freewater clinics
saw 152 people vaccinated on Oct.
29 and 127 people on Oct. 30. The
health department did not yet have
data showing how many people
received boosters, but Fiumara said
he expected trends to be similar to
Pendleton’s clinic.
“We knew there was going to be
some demand, but it won’t have an
impact on the pandemic,” Fiumara
said.
The week of Oct. 17, the county
reported just 626 immunizations
total.
Before last week, health offi cials
had estimated they would deliver
just 200 booster doses daily. Seeing
the high demand for boosters “felt
like February,” Fiumara said, when
vaccine eligibility had expanded
and the county at times didn’t have
enough doses to go around.
But Fiumara noted it will be more
important for unvaccinated people
to receive their fi rst doses than for
hundreds of people to receive boost-
ers. That’s because the virus spreads
predominantly among the unvacci-
nated, he said.
See Shots, Page A8
UMATILLA COUNTY’S
COVID-19 STATS AS
OF TUESDAY, NOV. 2
• The disease claimed two
more lives, increasing the
county’s death toll to 155.
• COVID-19 has led to the
deaths of nearly 30 county resi-
dents since the beginning of
September.
• Cases in the county are
declining. The county last
week reported 182 cases.
During the week ending Oct. 1,
the county reported 510 cases.
• The county’s total number
of cases stands at 14,727.