Southern Oregon counties keeping up with state, federal vaccine timelines

SOUTHERN Ore.- As the state continues to iron out its vaccination timeline, Counties across the state are also taking steps to keep up with president Biden’s goals. But, according to health officials here, southern Oregon is doing just fine.

“When we look at what the rest of the state is doing, we are right there in the thick of it and, in some instances, out pacing them,” said Valeree Lane with Klamath County Public Health. She says southern Oregon is meeting state and federal vaccination timelines just fine, which isn’t the case in other areas of the state.

“There are still places in the state that its not as easy to get vaccinated than it is in southern Oregon right now.” Lane says the only delays are from the supply stream.

“In Klamath county, if we were to have enough vaccine we could do about 5,000 vaccinations a week,” she explained. In Josephine county, the sentiment is the same: health officials are waiting on the vaccine

Public Health Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Leah Swanson says they’re prepared for whatever the state throws at them.

“By the end of this month, we should be getting much more vaccine and it looks like our community is going to be able to step up to those numbers,” she said. The county is pivoting away from mass vaccination events and focusing on community partners who can do thousands of doses a week.

“We have between 15 and 20 partners that, on a weekly basis, are attending our meetings, are getting vaccines from us,” Swanson explained.

Both officials say the governor and the president’s deadlines for delivering vaccines are feasible and something they could even surpass with more available doses.

“As long as the Oregon Health Authority has those vaccines, the local public health will also have those vaccines,” she said of the supply flow.

Valeree Lane says even as they get more vaccines, they are still working on giving second doses, so vaccination rates may not climb as quickly. To keep an eye on the state’s vaccination progress, you can visit the Oregon Health Authority’s vaccination dashboard.