Oregon health officials recommend next vaccine groups amid changes to death toll reporting

(The Center Square) — Teens and adults with underlying conditions, frontline workers, and prisoners are among the next people Oregon health officials are recommending for vaccinations as of Thursday.

More specifically, those groups include adults ages 16 to 64 with underlying conditions, front-line workers in high-risk transmission zones like stores who cannot work remotely, juveniles and adults in custody ages 16 and up, and people living in low-income and congregate senior housing.

The aforementioned people will fall under the state’s upcoming Phase 1c which is expected to start sometime in the spring after health care workers, people in long-term care centers, school staff, and seniors.

In past weeks, the Oregon COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Committee had recommended Black, Indigenous, and People of Color with chronic or underlying conditions be next in line for priority vaccinations along with refugees and inmates. According to the committee, BIPOC communities total some 806,00 people in Oregon while those with chronic conditions total some 1.8 million people in the state.

Current OHA data shows Pacific Islanders have seen the highest case rates of any demographic in Oregon—7,446 per 100,000 people—followed by Hispanics, Black, and Asian residents. White Oregonians, who make up about 86% of Oregon, have the lowest case rate of 1,851 per 100,000 people.

Racial equity has been a defining goal of Gov. Kate Brown’s proposed state budget in light of Oregon’s ongoing protests against racism and police brutality.

The paused Oregon Cares Fund is evidence enough that race-based programs run the risk of triggering court challenges for the state.

Created for Black Oregon business owners hit by the pandemic, the fund’s remaining $8.8 million was frozen in December while the state fights ongoing litigation against it from two aggrieved businesses claiming discrimination.

On Monday, the Oregon Legislature’s 12-member BIPOC Caucus wrote a letter obtained by Oregon Public Broadcasting to the VAC to request that it prioritize vaccinations for BIPOC communities by targeting common BIPOC job sectors.

The news follows the Biden administration’s announced intent this week to buy another 200 million vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna on top of increasing vaccine shipments to the states by 20% to 10 million doses a week.

State Public Health Director Rachael Banks said on Thursday the state will begin narrowing down the committee’s recommendation in the coming days.

“I also want to be transparent in saying there will be decisions made if we continue to have 50,000 or 30,000 new first doses a week and an eligibility population that’s very, very wide,” Banks said. “Ultimately, we don’t want to frustrate communities by having a lot of people who ultimately think, you know, I’m eligible right now and know that there’s not enough spots.”

Transparency is an issue the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) has come under fire for time and again in the pandemic since a bipartisan group of state lawmakers wrote to Brown last fall urging her to step up COVID-19 testing.

Without prior warning on Wednesday, OHA announced it will be pulling the comprehensive information it has provided for each COVID-19 death in the state since the pandemic began.

Each report until Wednesday had included the person’s gender, county, date they first tested positive, and place of death. Those details were gone in Wednesday’s daily report.

For example, Oregon’s 1,904th COVID-19 death is a 27-year-old woman with no underlying conditions in Hood River County who tested positive on December 22 and died on January 23 at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital.

In a statement on Thursday, OHA Director Patrick Allen said the change was based on strain such reporting had on the agency’s resources.

“Every death from COVID-19 represents a loss, especially for those who knew them best — families, friends and loved ones,” Allen said. “That is why we have listed each case. Moving forward, we will share aggregated COVID-19 related deaths on OHA’s public dashboards, which are updated daily.”

More detailed death toll reports may be important if new demographics are at risk from a new COVID-19 strain which made landfall in the state.

On Thursday, a spokesperson with Brown’s office released a statement defending the change, arguing that reporting hard numbers alone without further details would allow Oregon’s COVID-19 numbers to be included in daily national data.

Oregon’s COVID-19 death reports were among the most comprehensive in the country up until Wednesday.

The Center Square has made a public records request to the OHA concerning six new deaths from the virus reported by the agency on Thursday and is awaiting a response.

Since December, Oregon’s vaccination rollout has reached the rate of most states in the country.

The CDC’s COVID Tracker on Friday morning showed Oregon has administered 56% of its COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna on hand.

About 6% of Oregonians have received at least one dose while another 1.2% had received both doses, according to CDC data.

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