Lane County Public Health officials were shocked at the size of their allocation of COVID-19 vaccine this week. Despite readiness to administer thousands of shots, the county only received 100 doses from the state.
With visible frustration, spokesperson Jason Davis said this week’s meager vaccine allocation is hard to explain.
“That is not sufficient for our efforts,” said Davis. “We have people ready and waiting for the vaccine. And it’s our responsibility to try to advocate for them and get as much vaccine into this community as possible.”
Davis described the supply chain like this: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention orders vaccine from manufacturers and allocates shipments to states based on their plans for distribution. The Oregon Health Authority then directs amounts to counties.
Davis noted so far, the state of Oregon has received roughly 30,000 doses per week for a population of over 4 million people. The CDC ranks Oregon 9th-worst in the nation at vaccine distribution.
Davis said Nova urgent care received a surplus this week which they’ve given to the Lane County Public Health. There will be a mass vax clinic on Saturday to immunize those in adult foster care and behavioral health care providers.
Last week, the county received its first shipment, a total of 1,200 vaccines. They were quickly administered to direct care providers.
As of Tuesday, 103 Lane County residents have died from COVID-19.
