Outrage: Oregon seniors to get Covid vaccine after teachers

If Oregon seniors weren't so justifiably afraid of coming down with COVID-19, they should be marching in the streets after Governor Brown announced yesterday that those 65+ would have to wait in line behind teachers to get vaccinated.

This is a hugely irresponsible decision that is going to cause many old people to die. 

According to the Oregon Health Authority, those 60 and over comprise 17% of Covid cases in the state and a whopping 91% of the Covid deaths.

Yet Brown said at a press conference that I watched via You Tube that children are suffering from distance learning and need to get back into in-person instruction as soon as possible.

Hey, Governor, you know who else has been suffering?

The 1,600 Oregon seniors who have died from Covid, many of them isolated from loved ones in a hospital bed, unable to say goodbye other than, maybe, via an iPad held up by an ICU nurse.

Children have their lives ahead of them. Seniors are nearing the end of their lives. Children can recover from learning problems during this pandemic. Seniors who die from Covid are gone forever, no second chances.

Currently the plan is to start vaccinating most day care, preschool, and K-12 school employees on January 25. Seniors have to wait two weeks, with Oregonians ages 80+ starting to get the vaccine on February 8, followed by ages 75+ on February 15, 70+ on February 22, and 65+ on March 1.

This likely is an optimistic schedule. But even if it holds up, every senior who wants the Covid vaccine won't be able to get both doses until well into April, around three months from now.

Today 41 Oregonians died from Covid. Let's look on the bright side and say that only 20 die on average each day during the next three months, 90 days. That's 1,800 additional deaths. If 91% are seniors 60+, over 1,600 old people will die.

Sure, some seniors will be immunized in time to prevent getting the disease. So let's cut that number in half: 800. Or maybe you think I'm being too pessimistic. OK, cut the number in half again: 400.

Is it worth 400 senior deaths to give Oregon children a few months of in-person instruction?

That's my guess, given that it seems unlikely all school personnel could get their first shot before February 8, with the second shot being given three or four weeks later, which gets us to March 1-8. Full immunity takes a few weeks after the second shot.

So it would be the end of March before school personnel are 95% safe from Covid. Will schools reopen before this happens? I doubt it. Teachers would resist entering classrooms before their second dose has taken effect. 

Thus if summer vacation starts in June, Governor Brown is saying that it is worth hundreds of senior deaths to give children eight weeks or so of in-person instruction this school year.

Here's a not-so-crazy idea.

Ask teachers, parents, and students if they are OK with this? Have a statewide discussion about the morality of condemning the grandparents of school children to die so their grandchildren can sit in a classroom for a few months.

Consider what a learning experience it would be for educators to talk about how putting off in-person instruction until the fall of 2021 is a sacrifice being made so many old people can live.

My wife and I are 71 and 72, respectively. We were fortunate to be able to get a first dose of the Pfizer Covid vaccine last Thursday, though a bit unfairly. 

I'm happy about that. But I'm sad whenever I think about the seniors we know who, like us, have been living in fear for almost a year of coming down with COVID-19.

The Oregon Health Authority statistics show that a bit over 7% of those 60+ with COVID-19 die. That's 1 out of 14. Many or most of the other 13 suffer a lot, since seniors are affected much more than younger people by the Covid virus.

So it isn't irrational for many seniors to stay sheltered at home, unwilling to go out except for groceries, which often are picked up because those old people are wary of going into stores. Governor Brown spoke of the despair of students who can't be in the classroom.

Brown needs to spend more time talking with seniors who have been isolating to a much greater degree than students about their despair, their loneliness, their fear of getting sick and dying alone.

There's still time for Governor Brown and the Oregon Health Authority to rethink their plan to make seniors wait to get the Covid vaccine until school personnel have been immunized. I hope they do.

 

Comments

[Mom]

What about our essential workers? When are they going to get their vaccine? They should have priority over teachers only after our seniors have been taken care of

[Nancy]

All of the school staff on Oregon Safe Return are very outraged! They did not ask to be out earlier in line. This is absolutely NOT right!!!

[Stan]

It’s not so clear cut.

Seniors at nursing homes and other similar places have been prioritized.

Teachers are being asked to return to work, so teachers should get vaccinated. If you’re a senior and not working, you likely have choices in staying home and physically distancing.

Vaccinations are also about mitigating the spread and increasing herd immunity (public health) and not just preventing deaths.

I like WA’s prioritization of multigenerational households.

Teachers and seniors deserve to be protected.

[Brian Hines]

Stan, on the news last night I saw that Washington state is vaccinating seniors now, following health care workers and long term care residents/staff. So Washington is doing what I consider to be the right thing -- prioritizing seniors over teachers.

One problem with your logic is that schools likely aren't going to reopen until teachers have gotten both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. Since the second dose has to be given three or four weeks after the first does, and full immunity doesn't occur until two weeks after the second dose, this means (as I said in this post) that vaccinating teachers will take two months, more or less.

That gets us into April. So in-person instruction probably would encompass a whole two months of this school year, April and May, unless schools are open during the summer. Is that worth not giving seniors the vaccine first, a much higher risk group? I continue to think, "No." Open schools in the fall to in-person instruction.

[Stan]

I’m not opposed to a Fall opening, but in S-K, they’re pushing to start openings in late Feb and even earlier for Lake Oswego. With the looser restrictions announced on 1/19, Portland area schools will likely start opening up soon.

You make compelling arguments though Mr. Hines. Cheers.

[Larry mikkelson]

Your name should be Brian whines not Hines, you moan and complain regarding vaccine priorities and then you and your wife delight in getting your vaccine out of order so you can get a little more attention for your little ego. I am an elderly caregiver and I had to state as such to register for my shot. Curiously what did you tell them? You got your publicity shot of publicity and your vaccine I bet you really feel clever!

[Brian Hines]

Larry, your comment shows how uninformed you are. It appears that you haven't read my blog posts before criticizing me.

If you'd bothered to read what I wrote, you would have known that my wife and I decided to head to the Salem Health clinic at the Fairgrounds after learning that numerous other people 65+ had been able to be vaccinated.

Since my wife has asthma, and I have health problems that would make it very difficult for me if I were to come down with Covid, it seemed worth a try to get a shot. We told the screener at the clinic that we weren't health care providers, but rather were over 70 with underlying conditions and had made an appointment through Salem Health's My Chart system.

We were allowed to be vaccinated after speaking the truth about who we were. So I have no idea where your unjustified anger at us comes from. You need to read this story by a KGW investigative reporter. I was interviewed by her yesterday for the story. She says that many people have contacted her, saying that, just like us, they were able to be vaccinated at the Salem Health clinic even though they weren't in the 1a group.

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/people-in-other-priority-groups-skipping-vaccination-line-at-salem-clinic/283-9600993e-c97e-40fa-93c5-c138810d6f1d

Hope this clears up your misunderstanding. Next time, inform yourself before leaving a comment on my blogs. I have little patience for people who insult me, or anyone else, for no reason.

[Mytime]

If you knew you shouldn't have got the vaccination yet, you are both untrustworthy people. You sound educated enough to know you didn't fall into faze 1 ( and it's VERY broad so people do get confused on if they qualify) but still purposely put yourself ahead of others. This was also when the national guard was brand new assisting Salem health. I would not be bragging especially now that you have to return for a 2nd dose

[Mytime]

To clarify did you or did you not know that you were not in the correct phase yet ( auto correct misspelled earlier) but wanted to " try" because other people got away with it? Please tell us!

[Brian Hines]

Mytime, I've explained myself well in my blog posts. For most of last week Salem Health was allowing people to be vaccinated at the clinic even though they weren't in the 1a group. This allowed the clinic to not have to throw away any vaccine, because there were takers for it after it had stopped being refrigerated.

I became aware of this through reports on Facebook. Subsequently, I've heard from people who said they were contacted directly by Salem Health staff to come to the clinic though they weren't in the 1a group. So all of us who got vaccinated did so with the approval of Salem Health, so far as I know.

Meaning, everyone I've talked with about this did as we did: they told the truth when asked if they were a health care provider. There wasn't anything to "get away with." What happened was that we and others took advantage of a period when Salem Health, along with the Oregon Health Authority, assumed there was a reserve supply of vaccine coming from the federal government.

That turned out to be a Trump administration falsehood, which is why Salem Health stopped vaccinating seniors on Friday, the day after we were vaccinated. As I've said repeatedly, we did everything correctly. We simply took advantage of what turned out to be a narrow window of opportunity for seniors to get a shot, a window that closed when the Oregon Health Authority realized there was no reserve of vaccine for Oregon.