01/15/21 – Governor Brown announced today that, due to a lapse in expected vaccine shipments from the federal government, many Oregon seniors will need to wait several more weeks to receive their first dose of the vaccine. However, starting January 25th, childcare providers and educators will be eligible for their vaccines.  Beginning on February 8th, Oregonians 80 years of age and older will be eligible.

This is a departure from the original plan to make teachers and Oregonians 65 years of age and older eligible on January 23rd. State leaders learned yesterday that the federal government would not be sending any surge of doses, as promised earlier this week.

Locally, Salem Health, in partnership with the Oregon National Guard, have been managing the vaccine deployment at the Oregon State Fairgrounds.  For more information on this effort, click here.  (https://www.salemhealth.org/covid-19/covid-vaccine)

On January 8th, the state met Governor Brown’s goal of vaccinating 12,000 people per day and currently ranks 30th among the 50 states in vaccine delivery, according to Oregon Health Authority Executive Director Patrick Allen.

OBI President and CEO Sandra McDonough serves on The state’s Vaccine Advisory Committee leads Oregon’s vaccine deployment efforts, including prioritization recommendations in Phases 1b, 1c and 2. Phase 1, already underway, includes health care workers, long term care facility residents and other priority populations. Last Thursday, the committee recommended these groups for Phase 1b:

  • BIPOC: Black, African American, Hispanic/Latino, Indigenous, tribal and urban-based Natives, Pacific Islanders.
  • Adults 16-64 with chronic conditions.
  • Adults and youth eligible for vaccine in custody; prison and jail frontline workers.
  • Frontline workers not already in Phase 1a or 1b.
  • Multi-generational homes.
  • People under the age of 65 living in low-income senior housing and other congregate senior housing.

The Salem Chamber will keep our members updated as deployment decisions are made.

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