The first doses of COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Oregon on Monday. The initial round of vaccines will be distributed to healthcare workers.
Since the pandemic began, healthcare workers have borne the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, at times making up more than a quarter of all infections. They are the most likely to be exposed, and that puts family members, roommates, and loved ones at risk, too.
Dr. Jim McGovern is the V.P. of Medical Affairs at Peacehealth, Oregon, which will receive its first shipment of vaccines on Tuesday.
"What it changes for me is less anxiety around our frontline staff who are in the COVID units and are exposed to patients who potentially have covid. They will have a degree of protection they don't have right now.”
The state expects that by the end of the month, more than 100,000 Oregonians, mostly healthcare workers, will have received their first shot of the vaccine.
