‘Urgency’: State vaccine advisory panel holds first meeting; teachers a priority

Will look at how to prioritize critical workers, older adults

PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Oregon’s new COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Committee met for the first time Thursday to discuss how critical workers and population will be prioritized in the state’s vaccine rollout.

The VAC will co-create a vaccine sequencing plan focused on health equity, to ensure the state’s vaccine distribution plan meets the needs of populations who are most at-risk and hardest hit by the pandemic. These populations include communities of color, tribal communities and people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Educators and other staff at PK-12 schools and early learning centers will follow the Phase 1A group, which includes health care workers, residents and staff at long-term care facilities and first responders, in the state’s most immediate prioritization order.

The vaccine advisory committee is considering how to prioritize critical workers, such as transportation workers and grocery store workers, older adults, people with underlying conditions and other factors.

“Urgency,” said Cherity Bloom-Miller, VAC member with the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians Community Health Clinic. “We need to make some fast decisions to get vaccines out quickly.”

Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen, who joined the group’s first meeting, shared the same sentiment.

“The decisions you’re going to make will be incredibly hard, and we’re asking you to make them incredibly quickly,” said Allen.

Friday’s meeting was a vital first step in determining upcoming sequencing. The inaugural meeting of the diverse, 27-member group representing health organizations, nonprofits and businesses across rural and urban Oregon – including older adults, people with disabilities, cultural and ethnic communities, migrant and seasonal farm workers – came a day after the deadliest day of COVID-19 in the United States to date. The pandemic has now claimed more than 360,000 lives.

Recommendations for a vaccine sequencing plan are expected to develop over the next several weeks. For a YouTube link of Thursday’s meeting, click here. The next VAC meeting will be streaming live on Thursday, Jan. 14 from 10 a.m. to noon.

For more on the COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Committee (VAC), including a list of Advisory Committee Membership, click here.

Vaccinations in Oregon

OHA is  providing daily updates on administered doses of COVID-19 vaccines in Oregon on its vaccination data dashboard. 

The dashboard provides weekday updates on the number of people vaccinated, both by state and by county, along with key demographic information showing the race, ethnicity, sex and age of everyone who has been vaccinated.

Nearly 700 people applied to be on the Vaccine Advisory Committee (VAC).

Members were chosen by a cross-sectional team from Oregon Health Authority (OHA), Community Partner Outreach Program (CPOP) and Oregon’s Office of Equity and Inclusion (OEI).