Vaccinations are on the minds of most Oregon residents right now as the Federal Government ramping up efforts to increase vaccinations nationwide.
The big question is how long will it take for Oregon to get vaccinated?
Thankfully, vaccination sites are launching across the state, especially in the Portland Convention Center where they will have the capability to vaccinate up to 2,000 people per day.
This is good news for Oregon because as more people get vaccinated, the state can gradually begin to return to normal after the long, hard battle with Covid-19.
More Than 12,000 Vaccinations Per Day
If you’ve been following the vaccination effort in Oregon, you know that Governor Kate Brown has ordered more than 12,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to be distributed per day.
As of today, vaccinators across the state are exceeding the Governor’s mandate and this means that about 6% of the state’s population is not vaccinated.
More vaccines
Each week, Oregon is receiving roughly 100,000 vaccines total, including first and second doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine and the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. If that sounds like a lot, consider that there are roughly 3.3 million adults in Oregon, and each needs two doses.
It would take roughly double the current supply to fully vaccinate every adult Oregonian by the end of the fall.
Patrick Allen, director of the Oregon Health Authority, said a lack of supply is the key obstacle the state faces.
“We’re now at a place where we can administer virtually as much vaccine as the federal government can provide us,” Allen said at a press conference launch for the convention center clinic.
Across the state, hospital systems and other partners have ramped up the effort to administer shots — and now they’re begging for more doses. But the supply coming from the manufacturers remains limited.
“Until we see a new vaccine approved, or see production go up significantly, everybody in the state, including this operation at the convention center, will be capable of vaccinating more people than we have vaccines for,” Allen said.
The approval of a new vaccine could soon help alleviate the supply shortage in Oregon and other states.
A third vaccine candidate, from Johnson & Johnson, is nearing the end of clinical trials. Depending on what the data shows, it could go to federal regulators for emergency approval in February.
Covid-19 has adversely affected Oregon and the world as a whole, but the good news is that with more people getting vaccinated across the state, we can have reason to hope that our state will develop herd immunity and protect more Oregon residents from getting Covid-19.