A16
STATE
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, May 12, 2021
Biden and Brown shift vaccine doses to where demand is high
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Hoping to pick up
the pace of vaccinations, state and
federal health offi cials are ditching
their population-based distribu-
tion game plans to get more doses
where they are wanted and needed.
President Joe Biden wants 70%
of American adults fully vacci-
nated by July 4. The goal translates
to about 160 million people. As of
late last week, 105 million Amer-
ican adults were fully vaccinated.
To get there, Biden announced
Tuesday, May 4, that he was end-
ing the system that sent weekly
shipments of vaccine to states in
amounts based on their population.
The move will send more vac-
cine to places where demand is
high, with additional supply drawn
from areas where vaccine sits
unused in medical refrigerators.
Allotments to states that do
not want or cannot use more vac-
cine will go into a federal “vac-
cine bank.” States where shots are
in demand will be able to order
up to 50% more than their current
allotments.
Oregon, California and Michi-
gan are among states saying they
still need more vaccine to meet
demand. On the fl ip side, West Vir-
ginia has reported a surplus of vac-
cine and Arkansas offi cials said
the state no longer wants weekly
shipments.
With Oregon one of 12 states
currently seeing an increase in
COVID-19 cases, the state plans
to draw from the vaccine bank
quickly.
“Oregon will ask for the maxi-
mum allowed, which will help us
to get shots in arms faster,” Gov.
Kate Brown said May 4.
On April 27, Oregon’s infec-
tion rate had grown by 53% over
the previous two weeks, the high-
est mark in the nation.
COVID-19 infections are still
rising in Oregon, but more slowly.
Courtnie McCAuliff e/Contributed Photo
Ruthie Mann, infection control offi cer at Wallowa Memorial Hospital,
prepares a syringe with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday, March
9, 2021. In the background is Stacey Karvoski, WMH quality director and
nurse.
Cases have risen only 12% over
the past two weeks. Oregon’s 33%
increase in hospitalizations over
the same time is the third highest
in the nation, behind only Alaska
and Kansas.
Nationwide, the infection rate is
down 26% in the past two weeks.
The strongest piece of posi-
tive news came at the end of April,
when Oregon recorded its few-
est COVID-19 deaths in a month
since the beginning of the crisis
in March 2020. Oregon currently
has the fi fth-lowest death rate
per 100,000 people in the United
States. Alaska, Vermont, Hawaii
and Idaho have lower rates.
Biden’s vaccination goal would
require that 55 million people get
their fi rst shot by the end of the fi rst
week of June, just 3½ weeks from
now.
The one-shot Johnson & John-
son vaccine could speed up the
eff ort, but manufacturing issues
and a review of safety concerns
have slowed distribution to a
trickle.
Just as there are states that
eagerly desire the vaccine while
others shun it, counties in Oregon
show the same pattern.
Vaccination rates of residents
16 and older have varied widely
across the 36 counties, from 64%
in Benton and Hood River counties
to less than 32% in Lake, Umatilla
and Malheur counties.
That’s led to shifting more vac-
cine to areas where it is in demand,
including Portland.
Oregon has the highest rate of
“vaccine hesitancy” on the West
Coast, with 15% of residents say-
ing they are unsure or don’t want
to get the shots, according to a
report last week from the federal
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
In contrast, California and
Washington are reporting about
11% of the population is unsure or
doesn’t want to be inoculated. Cal-
ifornia offi cials said the highest
rates of negative response were in
the northern tier of rural counties
nearest the Oregon border.
Oregon has also dealt with what
OHA Director Pat Allen has called
“vaccine belligerency,” an active
opposition to not only being inocu-
lated, but at times protesting those
who choose to get the vaccine.
Incidents have included the heck-
ling by antivaccination hardliners
of Bend high school students at a
school-sponsored clinic.
Other steps are being taken
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to get more “impulse vaccina-
tions” by off ering shots without
appointments. Many people across
the country and in Oregon have
expressed frustration with multi-
ple, sometimes clunky websites
required to make appointments.
Now, it’s possible to just show up
and roll up a sleeve.
Both federal and state health
offi cials have said that they will
also increasingly fi nd ways to
get vaccine to people instead of
people to the vaccine. This will
include mobile clinics, pop-up
sites and vaccination days at major
employers.
Over the entire pandemic that
began in China on Dec. 31, 2019,
Oregon has had the third-low-
est per capita number of cases in
the nation, at 4,432 per 100,000.
Though the rise in infections has
been sharp, Oregon’s longstand-
ing place near the bottom of cases
and deaths means that its per cap-
ita number of cases pushed it no
higher than 12th place.
Oregon was among about a
half dozen states with the lowest
infection and death rates over the
course of the pandemic. Just over
2,500 deaths were reported by Ore-
gon out of the more than 575,000
deaths in the United States.
Biden said May 4 that he hoped
the more people see the vaccine
curbing COVID-19, the more he
hopes they will change their minds
and be inoculated, if not for them-
selves, then for family and friends.
“I think the end of the day, most
people will be convinced by the
fact that their failure to get the vac-
cine may cause other people to get
sick and possibly die,” Biden said.
There is currently no vac-
cine approved for children. Pfi zer
announced it will ask for federal
approval for emergency use of its
vaccine on children as young as 2.
The company told Wall Street ana-
lysts during an earnings call that
the approval could come as early
as this week.
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