



In addition, health officials are distributing information to clinics, home care agencies and advocacy groups. “We are trying to surround the people, who help seniors, with the information they need so that if the seniors themselves aren’t able to navigate the systems – the people around them know what to do,” Allen said. The online tool is where caregivers or family members of Oregon seniors can to sign up their elderly family member for a vaccine. While 211info, Oregon and Southwest Washington’s information referral line for health and human services, is available, the health authority is launching an additional online tool on Monday. In total by early March, around 700,000 seniors in Oregon will be eligible for the vaccine.Īllen said the Oregon Health Authority has been working with counties to make sure seniors have access to the vaccine, although signing up for an appointment will vary from community to community. “In New York seniors who signed up for vaccine appointments had them rescinded due to lack of supply.” “Every state has had challenges with the vaccine rollout,” Brown said. Brown said Oregon's phased approach for the elderly will help avoid the “nightmare” of extensive lines and wait times occurring in other states. Oregon officials opted to prioritize teachers before the elderly for COVID vaccinations in an attempt to get children back to in-person learning faster. Lastly, the week of March 1, seniors 65 and older will be eligible. 22, seniors 70 and older will be eligible. 15, seniors 75 and older will be eligible eligible. 8, Oregonians who are 80 or older will be eligible for the vaccine. We are going to have scheduling systems that are going to be hard to get appointments.”īeginning Feb. “We are probably going to have phone lines that are hard to get through on. “It’s probably going to be pretty chaotic here,” Director Patrick Allen told The Associated Press Thursday night. Kate Brown announced Friday that 30 additional National Guard members will be deployed to help field calls and texts from seniors signing up and seeking information on vaccinations. In preparation for the drastic increase of eligible people, Gov. (AP) Oregon health officials say they are expecting chaos next week, when about 167,000 people who are 80 years or older will become eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine.
