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Blue Mountain Eagle
Vaccines
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those groups. Lindsay said she
spoke with Muriel Brown, a
committee member, and Gov.
Kate Brown told her that those
decisions could be months out.
Lindsay said she offered to
send the extra doses back to
Oregon Health Authority, but
OHA told her to hold on to the
shots. After vaccinating the
county’s educators, that would
have left roughly 100 doses
unused.
“I am very frustrated,” she
said. “We are working hard to
get the vaccines out to people.”
The state knew the vaccines
were coming in July or August,
and Lindsay said the committee
should have begun meeting in
October.
According to OHA’s daily
COVID-19 email, the VAC
met for the first time on Jan. 7
and discussed how they would
prioritize critical workers and
other populations.
In an email last week
regarding when the VAC would
decide on how to prioritize gro-
cery store workers, Commu-
nications Director Jonathan
Modie said he did not know.
“It’s important to remem-
ber that the committee will be
meeting through February,”
Modie said. “But we hope to
start seeing sequencing deci-
sions by the committee by the
end of this month.”
NEWS
“THE STATE HAS DOSES AVAILABLE.
VACCINE ROLLOUT
IT IS A MESS AND ABSOLUTELY NOT
Phase 1a
OKAY.”
Group 1: Hospital and health care workers and urgent care
clinics. Nursing home workers and emergency medical
providers and other first responders.
Group 2: Both staff and residents at long-term-care facilities
and congregate care centers, including volunteers.
Group 3: Outpatient settings serving specific high-risk
groups; in-home care; day treatment services; non-emer-
gency medical transport.
Group 4: Health care workers in outpatient settings, includ-
ing drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities.
Phase 1b
Group 1: Educators and other staff at schools.
Group 2: Food and ag service workers.
Group 3: Transportation service workers, including senior
rideshare services and medical shuttle services.
Fortunately for Grant
County residents who want the
vaccine, with the new direction
provided Monday, the health
department can continue work-
ing to provide the vaccine to
those at greatest risk.
‘It is a mess and
absolutely not okay’
Lindsay said Monday, while
she does not regret making the
call to OHA to get more clar-
ity on grocery store work-
ers and retail employees, the
state would have been none the
wiser about the county’s plans
to vaccinate the broader demo-
graphics had she not made the
call.
It underscores the inconsis-
tent communication and chang-
ing or rules that have plagued
the vaccine rollout from the
start, she said.
“They have changed the cri-
teria for who gets the vaccine
and when no less than six times
in the past four weeks. I appre-
ciate that they want to ensure
that all minority groups are
heard in the vaccine rollout, but
while they are going through
the listening process, at-risk
people who want the vaccine
are not able to get it,” she said.
“Some will die.”
She said a rural county like
Grant County has a higher per-
centage of at-risk people with
limited access to health care.
“The state has doses avail-
able,” she said. “It is a mess and
absolutely not okay.”
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
—Kimberly Lindsay, Grant County public health administrator
On Friday, Harney County
Health Department posted the
following on it’s Facebook
page: “We have several doses
left. First come, first serve 75
and over.”
Harney County Public
Health Administrator Nic Cal-
vin said the county had been
vaccinating the people it could.
“We are just trying to roll
out the vaccine as quickly as
possible,” he said. “We’re still
waiting on the state to come
out with Phase 1b, but frankly
right now, we can’t wait weeks
and weeks on end, while we
have people dying in our
community.”
Difficulties and changes
Law enforcement was
originally included in Phase
1a, but they were later
“bumped” to Phase 1b after
the health department had
offered and provided them
vaccinations, Lindsay said.
She said the county also
received permission from the
Oregon Health Authority to
share the health department’s
doses with care center resi-
dents. According to Lindsay,
they were looking at a three-
month delay until Walgreens
and Rite Aid could get their
doses to them.
Lindsay said the health
department has 10 vials, and
within each vial, there are 10
to 11 doses with a six-hour
window to administer the
shots after opening a vial.
Lindsay said people
have changed their minds at
the last minute or failed to
show up on more than one
occasion.
“It’s a little frustrating,
and you don’t want to waste
doses,” Lindsay said. “I don’t
want to be reporting back to
the state that we used 70 and
dumped 30, especially when
there are 30 people out there
that you know that want it.”
On a couple of occasions,
she said they have called
people on the waiting list to
avoid dumping doses out.
She would not provide the
number but said some doses
have spoiled due to no shows
and last-minute refusals.
Refusal rates
As of Monday, 142 vac-
cines have been adminis-
tered in Grant County, 87 by
the health department which
received 200, and 55 by the
hospital which received 100
doses that can only be used
for hospital employees.
Although one reason Grant
Learning
Contributed photo
Long Creek students, from
left, Aaron Garinger, Tucker
Garinger, Nolan Garinger
and Khoa Vuong receive
instruction from Long Creek
educational aid Linda Studt-
mann about using iPads for
classes.
Continued from Page A1
to find ways to enhance
learning.
“Our teachers were going
to public places outdoors
and meeting with students
with the masking and social
distancing,” Garinger said.
“They would meet at the
park once a week with the
high school and junior high
kids or some porches, on
front yards and things like
that.”
Some students also came
up to the school building and
sat on the sidewalk to use the
internet.
County so quickly completed
Phase 1a was because of high
refusal rates, Lindsay said the
people who want vaccines in
the priority groups have been
able to get them quickly.
“We are getting it to the
people that want the vaccine
quicker than other counties
because of the refusal rate,”
Lindsay said. “Our doses are
lasting longer.”
Lindsay estimated that
between 60-70% of those in
the first phase turned down
the vaccine.
She said it is likely that
Phase 1b’s acceptance rate
will be similar to those in the
previous phase.
“We could have a high
acceptance rate with educa-
tors and food service work-
ers,” she said. “I don’t know.”
She said she is not sur-
prised to see higher refusal
rates in rural Oregon.
The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention rec-
ommends continuing restric-
tions until the vaccination
rate reaches 70-80%, Lind-
say said, and she expects
the refusal rate will decrease
over time.
“They will grow more
comfortable and see there
are no long-term side effects
or babies born with health
concerns,” she said. “Before
we relax public health
measures, it’s the vacci-
nation rate we look at to
be safe.”
Contributed photo
Staff at Long Creek School receive instruction on how to carry out distance learning through iPads.
“It was a strange setup,
but it worked,” Grainger
said. “It worked for our kids
while we got these iPads
ready to deploy.”
Garinger said it was per-
Happy New Year!
Here’s hoping that 2021 will bring good
health and happiness to all of you!
We start the new year with anticipation and
hope that things will be better. 2020 ended
with some positive things happening in Grant
fect timing because the iPads
were ready when the weather
cooled down and made out-
door education difficult.
Even with the iPads,
though, many households
did not have a great cellular
signal. To overcome the new
hurdle, the school purchased
every family in the district a
cell signal booster.
“Every family in our dis-
trict now has optimized cel-
lular service for education,”
Garinger said. “It’s going to
work and help us get through
the rest of this year, allowing
our students to have the con-
nection and unity.”
Garinger said parents have
been supportive and teachers
have adapted well to the new
format.
“They know it’s distance
learning, and this is what
we’re doing,” Garinger said.
“Even if it requires all kinds
of work around, they know
this is the way the school year
will be, and they always help
out as much as they can.
“COVID is terrible and
tough, but I think Long Creek
has shown its strength through
COVID. It showed Long
Creek’s dedication to each
other and the community at
large. In the end, we will all
be fine.”
County. We had a record year for our Grant
The most valuable and
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County Greenback program! I have been
redeeming them like crazy! This has kept a
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“Shop Local” this holiday season.
Our Greenback program started in 2015
and it is still going strong. Greenbacks do not
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www.eomediagroup.com
MODA MEDICARE ADVANTAGE
PLAN MEMBERS:
Your plan ended December 31, 2020
Call right away for your FREE review!
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you are not currently accepting Greenbacks
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This year’s Timber Trucker’s Light parade
was better than ever! The message “Grant
The deadline to choose your
new plan is February 28, 2021.
Donna Steele
Call right away!
( 541) 575-3518 • (541) 620-8980
342 W Main St, John Day, OR 97845
S221434-1
County Strong” was shared by more than 25
beautifully decorated vehicles.
The Chamber has other programs too.
Don’t forget about the Transient Room
Tax Grant program and our Business
Enhancement Grant program. Guidelines
and applications are available on our website
60561 HWY 26,
John Day, Oregon 97845
541-575-0023
or you can pick them up at our office.
Applications are accepted every month.
The Chamber Board of Directors will be
meeting on Thursday, January 21st at 10:30
am at the Chamber office.
Best wishes in the New Year.
Tammy Bremner
Chamber Manager
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