COVID-19 Vaccine Lines Are Back

The COVID-19 vaccine lines are back. This comes as about 200,000 Oregon children are newly eligible.

Sunday at the Oregon Convention Center, some families had to wait more than an hour.  Lines stretched outside the building. It was the first weekend day the mass vaccination clinic was open, since federal and state experts approved vaccinations for ages 12 to 15. Organizers estimate they gave out about 7,200  doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

In March Dr. Emilio Debess, the senior health advisor for Oregon’s COVID-19 response, predicted correctly that by this month we’d have an idea of which vaccines work for kids. He also told us,  “Scientists need to know, to provide a sense of assurance to the population that when you get your kid vaccinated, much like you get them vaccinated for whooping cough, or you get them vaccinated for measles or chicken pox, that that vaccine is effective, that that vaccine is safe, and that that vaccine will actually protect that child.”

Appointments are available Monday through Thursday. They’ll take walk-ins. So far Oregon’s given out 3.64 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine. The state’s about 39% fully vaccinated.