COVID-19 boosters arrive in Oregon as case numbers continue to fall across state
As of Wednesday, 69,400 COVID-19 booster shots have arrived in Oregon and another shipment of about 150,000 will be delivered later this week, according to the Oregon Health Authority.
More than 2.7 million Oregon residents are now eligible to receive a booster dose. Adults age 18 and older can get the Pfizer bivalent booster and those age 12 and older can get the Moderna bivalent booster.
The bivalent boosters are designed to prevent severe illness from a broader range of viral strains, including the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants. While only 5% of the 2.7 million qualified people can get a booster based on the number of available doses, OHA believes they will be able to meet the demand in the coming weeks.
"We anticipate, based on previous rollouts, that we'll have a surge in people wanting the vaccine immediately as it becomes available. And those initial doses that arrived in the state should be able to meet that and we expect continued weekly doses to be available so that people can get their vaccine in the coming weeks as those arrive in the state," Dr. Dean Sidelinger, health officer and state epidemiologist at Oregon Health Authority, said in a briefing.
The boosters can be administered two months or more after completing a vaccine series, or two months after a prior booster dose.
Three new high-volume vaccination sites will open this week in Redmond, Medford and Eugene. Find additional information at covidblog.oregon.gov/.
COVID-19 numbers continue to fall
The number of COVID-19 cases in Oregon has decreased from a seven-day average of 817 on Aug. 17 to 495 Tuesday. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, positive tests are dropping from 9.2% reported the week of Aug. 21 to 8% reported the week of Aug. 28.
The number of COVID-19 positive patients in Oregon hospitals was 269 as of Wednesday. According to the Oregon Health and Science University, Oregon has seen a 44% drop this month in COVID-19 positive patients since the peak of 464 July 17. Only 6% of occupied ICU beds are filled with COVID-19 patients.
Tracking Monkeypox numbers
OHA is also tracking cases of monkeypox in the state.
OHA reported that as of Wednesday, there are 179 presumptive and confirmed cases of monkeypox in Oregon. The cases are in eight counties: five in Clackamas, two in Columbia, one in Coos, 21 in Lane, two in Marion, 127 in Multnomah, 20 in Washington and one in Union.
More than 40,080 doses of the JYNNEOS vaccine and 263 courses of the investigational antiviral drug known as T-pox have been distributed or are in the process of being distributed in Oregon. As of Wednesday, there were fewer than 5,310 doses of JYNNEOS left in stock in Oregon.
Changes in COVID-19 tracking
Starting Sept. 14, OHA will begin update COVID-19 data weekly instead of daily. It will update the COVID-19 dashboards monthly, on the second Wednesday of the month.
Find more information on COVID-19 and monkeypox on the OHA website.
Dejania Oliver is the breaking news reporter for the Statesman Journal. Contact her at DAOliver@salem.gannett.com or follow on Twitter @DejaniaO
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Oregon coronavirus update: New COVID-19 boosters available
