By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
More than 500 people on a long waiting list to get their COVID-19 shot will be able to do so Friday in another mass vaccination clinic at the Lincoln County Fairgrounds in Newport.
Lincoln County Public Health is pooling vaccines it is getting this week with supplies from community partners to get 545 doses and clear up the waiting list that developed when people tried to sign up for clinics last week at the fairgrounds. The county is contacting those people.
It’s also the “one last chance” for people in the so-called 1A group – health care and corrections workers and educators, for example – before moving on to residents over 75, said Susan Trachsel, LCPH spokeswoman.
More than 1,400 people got their first dose of the Moderna vaccine during those clinics last week. PacWest Ambulance personnel also went to two long-term care facilities in Lincoln City and Sea Aire in Yachats to inoculate more than 300 residents and staff.
Trachsel said the county is also looking for appropriate places to hold vaccination clinics in south Lincoln County and in Lincoln City.
“As soon as we get a more steady supply we need to expand the clinics,” she said. “But it’s hard to do if you don’t know what’s coming week to week.”
The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the Biden administration is expected to increase vaccine supplies by 16 percent next week. The weekly allocation is forecast to go from about 8.6 million doses to about 10 million doses, the newspaper said. The vaccine is distributed on a population basis among 64 jurisdictions, including 50 states, eight territories and six major cities.
But the county learned Wednesday that it will not get any vaccine doses next week because Gov. Kate Brown decided to divert 17,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine to the three-county Portland area in order to inoculate health-care workers there. County health officials said it will be shorted next week because it is one of nine counties that has completed inoculations of first responders, health care workers and teachers and had moved on to residents over 75 years of age.
During a county commission meeting Monday, Commissioner Kaety Jacobson asked Deputy public health director Florence Pourtal if – even after two weeks – she had noticed any difference in the approach to vaccine rollout between the Trump and Biden administrations.
“First of all, there is a plan,” Pourtal said.
On the second day of the Biden Administration, Pourtal said state and county health officials received an outline of vaccine distribution principles and goals “based on data, science and public health practices.”
But even with the expected increase next week, state and local health officials say vaccine supplies are not near what’s needed to meet the demand.
Lincoln County health officials say they have the plan, the partners and enough volunteers to stage mass clinics and reach into all the rural areas of the county if it could just get enough vaccines, an issue that has plagued providers nationwide.
“We’re just trying to ramp up,” Trachsel told YachatsNews. “We just need to get the vaccines.
Pourtal told county commissioners Monday that people should to sign up for alerts from the county and regularly check the LCPH website for new clinics. People without access to the internet can check in with the county’s call center.
“As soon as we know how many vaccines we are getting the next week we will open it (signups) back up,” Pourtal said.
Pourtal said LCPH will keep the clinic at the county fairgrounds set up so it can be used on short notice. It is trying to find similar places around Waldport and Lincoln City where everything can stay set up when not in use.
“The more vaccines we receive, the more clinics we can do everywhere …” she said.
The county has hired two people on temporary contracts to help – someone to oversee the vaccination clinics and another person to coordinate the many volunteers who are stepping up to help. The county is also developing plans to reach out to homebound residents to visit them for vaccinations.
“We have lots of people volunteering,” Trachsel said.
She said the Oregon Health Authority is trying to move to a three-week cycle for vaccine distribution to help county health departments plan better. Currently, Lincoln County is being told each Friday the number of vaccine vials it is getting for the next week.
“It’s hard to plan,” Trachsel said. “The demand for this is huge. The phones are going nuts.”
