STATE
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
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Chaos coming with senior COVID-19 vaccine eligibility this week
By Gary A. Warner
Oregon Capital Bureau
The gap between COVID-19 vac-
cine eligibility and availability will
make for a chaotic start to age-based
inoculations this week.
Beginning Monday, Oregon res-
idents 80 and older were eligible to
receive their first dose of the two-shot
Moderna or Pfizer vaccines.
People over 80 have accounted for
just over half of the 2,002 deaths from
COVID-19 in Oregon.
But Gov. Kate Brown and Oregon
Health Authority Director Pat Allen
said demand vastly outstrips current
supply. Allen told a House panel ear-
lier this week that there are an esti-
mated 168,000 people 80 and older in
Oregon, which is currently receiving
about 40,000 first-shot doses of the
vaccine per week. This includes doses
for those in earlier priority groups
who haven’t been inoculated yet. The
required second doses are in a sepa-
rate count.
It all translates to a building wave
of frustration and disappointment
among those who have waited for
their time in line for the vaccine.
“If you watched the senior cate-
gory roll out everywhere else in the
EOMG file photo
Karla Toms, a registered nurse with St. Charles Health System, administers a
vaccine in the arm of Suzi Smith, of Bend, during a COVID-19 vaccination clinic
at the Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center in Redmond in January.
country, it was really chaotic — it’s
going be chaotic here too,” Allen said.
The age limit will drop five years
every week until those 65 and older
can receive shots March 1. But with
800,000 people in Oregon over the
age of 65, eligibility will overwhelm
availability well into spring.
County health agencies will be the
front lines for telling those eligible
where and when they might be able
to be vaccinated. There is no central
state registry or appointment line.
Allen said the fragmented system
is necessary so that vaccination dis-
tribution matches the needs of local
communities, not a “one-size-fits-all
Portland” solution.
Brown acknowledged the begin-
ning of an exasperating stretch as
seniors and their families try to navi-
gate the growing chasm between gov-
ernment’s promise and delivery.
“I want to thank our seniors for
their patience thus far, and for their
continued patience in the coming days
and weeks,” Brown said. “We are still
managing a scarce resource. There
will be hiccups in this process, but we
are going to get through them.”
More than 350,000 people in Ore-
gon — about 8.8% of the population
— have received at least one shot of
vaccine, ranking Oregon 12th in the
nation.
Oregon’s vaccine priority sys-
tem is already straining to get shots
for groups already eligible. Medical
and health workers were in group 1A,
which has been largely but not wholly
completed.
The other group in the top prior-
ity were residents of nursing homes,
who received some of the first shots
that became available late last year.
Seniors in long term care facilities
were vaccinated, but those living
independently or with their families
have had to wait.
Allen said all eligible groups
will start receiving vaccinations on
the date listed by the state, but will
be sharing the limited supply with
uncompleted priority groups ahead of
them and eventually new ones behind.
Allen said OHA is aiming to have
75% of seniors receive their first shots
by April, with second shots by May.
The Biden administration has prom-
ised a 20% increase in vaccine ship-
ments to Oregon.
The current Pfizer and Moderna
vaccines require two shots spaced
about a month apart. Once adminis-
tered, they are 95% effective in pre-
venting infection.
There are some other hope-
ful signs: After surging in Novem-
ber and December, COVID-19 infec-
tions have dropped off sharply, though
are still above most levels seen in the
spring and summer.
Johnson & Johnson on Thursday
asked the Food and Drug Adminis-
tration for emergency approval of its
vaccine. If approved by late February,
the vaccine could arrive in states in
early March.
The upside on the Johnson &
Johnson vaccine is it only requires
one shot. It has a lower efficiency rate
of 72% in a sample U.S. population,
but it can be shipped and used more
rapidly than the Moderna and Pfizer
vaccines.
More information is available
at covidvaccine.oregon.gov. The
state is also providing information
through its 211 phone system, by
texting ORCOVID to 898211 and
by emailing ORCOVID@211info.
org.
Oregon’s Bentz votes against ban on ex-QAnon backer serving on House panels
By Gary A. Warner
Oregon Capital Bureau
Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-On-
tario, voted on Thursday
against removing controver-
sial freshman Rep. Marjo-
rie Taylor Greene, R-Geor-
gia, from all committee
assignments.
Democrats sought to
remove Taylor Greene from
the House Education & Labor,
and Budget committees, cit-
ing her history of advancing
conspiracy theories, harass-
ing a mass shooting victim
and advocating for the right-
wing conspiracy theory group
QAnon.
The vote,
primarily
along party
lines,
was
230-199, with
11 Republi-
cans joining
Rep. Cliff
Democrats in
Bentz
voting yes.
“I
find
Representative Greene’s pre-
vious comments and actions
deeply offensive and totally
unacceptable,” said Bentz,
the first-term congressman
from Oregon’s 2nd Congres-
sional District. “However, she
went to the House Floor to say
she regrets her comments and
actions.”
The House debate included
a 10-minute address by Taylor
Greene, trying to reassure her
new colleagues that she was
not dangerous and discon-
nected from reality, as some
claimed.
Her defense included state-
ments that hinted at how far she
had gone in the past.
“I also want to tell you, 9/11
absolutely happened,” she said.
Also real: mass shootings at
schools.
Democrats said the vote was
about blocking an advocate
of bizarre conspiracy theories
from a key role on legislation.
Oregon’s four other House
members, Suzanne Bonamici,
D-Beaverton, Earl Blume-
nauer,
D-Portland,
Peter
DeFazio, D-Springfield, and
Kurt Schrader, D-Salem, voted
in favor of her removal.
The showdown over Taylor
Greene was the second major
test of Republican unity in less
than 24 hours.
The House Republican Con-
ference on Wednesday night
turned back an effort by some
members to remove Rep.
Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming, as
its chair. Some Republicans
wanted to punish Cheney for
being among 10 GOP House
members who voted for the
impeachment of President Don-
ald Trump.
House Minority Leader
Kevin McCarthy, R-Califor-
nia, asked members during
the closed-door vote to retain
Cheney. He also advocated for
them to oppose the Democrat-
ic-led effort to remove Taylor
Greene from committees.
Bentz declined to say which
way he voted in the Cheney
matter. NBC News, citing
House members at the meeting,
reported Cheney won 145-61 in
the secret ballot.
Greene had a long history
of statements calling school
shootings and the 9/11 attacks
hoaxes. She had backed the
conspiracy group QAnon,
which has been linked to vio-
lence, and she had posted her
approval online of a post call-
ing for the murder of House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Cal-
ifornia, with a “bullet to the
head.”
She has speculated that
“space solar generators” were
used to ignite wildfires in the
western United States.
Senate Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell, R-Ken-
tucky, made a rare comment
on a House member, saying
Greene would damage Repub-
licans’ credibility.
“Looney lies and conspir-
acy theories are cancer for
the Republican Party and our
country,” McConnell said.
GOT INVASIVE ANNUAL GRASSES?
Grant SWCD Weed Control Dept.
Working for You in 2021
Thanks to the Grant County Court and Northeast Oregon Forests Resource
Advisory Committee, Grant Weed Control is able to offer a 25% Cost
share program for Invasive Annual Grass Control on Private Grazing
Lands, through a Title II funded Grant Project. This program will provide a
maximum $10,000 of invasive annual grass control services with a $2,500
maximum landowner contribution to qualifying participants. To be eligible
for participation, the treatment property must not be actively irrigated and
must be primarily managed for livestock grazing, minimum of 20 acres in
size, located within Grant County, and must contain invasive annual grass
species. Applications for this limited weed control assistance opportunity
will be ranked and funded on a first come first serve basis.
Contact: Grant Soil and Water Conservation District Office
at (541) 575-1554 or visit 721 S. Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR
97845 for applications and additional information.
The application deadline for this program is March 12th, 2021.
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