PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Oregon Convention Center and the Portland Expo Center are ready to become mass vaccination centers in the near future to help speed the pace of getting Oregonians vaccinated.
“Metro’s visitor venues have responded to our community’s needs this past year by making our sites available for uses supporting distanced shelters, wildfire evacuations and COVID-19 testing,” said Scott Cruickshank, the General Manager of the Metro Visitor Venues. “We are proud to work to continue to serve our community in tremendous need. The Oregon Convention Center and Portland Expo Center are prepared to partner with health care providers who are deploying mass vaccination centers.”
Officials said their goal is to have the mass vaccination clinic open next week.
The Oregon National Guard is helping administer vaccines at a Salem Health mass vaccination center in what Gov. Kate Brown said is a “replicatable” model across the state.
Health officials said the state was meeting Gov. Brown’s daily goal of 12,000 vaccinations a day at the end of last week.
On Thursday, Oregon’s COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Committee members created a list of people they’d like to see be vaccinated next. It includes BIPOC communities, refugees, adults 16-64 with chronic conditions, adults and youth eligible for the vaccine who are in custody, frontline workers not included in Phase 1A and 1B, multi-generational homes and low-income senior housing.
Earlier in the week, Brown announced Oregon will expand its COVID-19 vaccination plan to include everyone who is 65 and older beginning January 23.
That’s the date more vaccine shipments are expected to begin arriving from the federal government, the governor’s office said. And on that date, seniors can get vaccinated along with child care providers, plus early learning and K-12 educators and staff.