By Nicole Montesano • Staff Writer • 

County says residents will need to re-register with state

Yamhill County has struggled with its registration process and changed it several times. The county health department said it became overwhelmed when people who were not yet eligible tried to sign up for notifications about when vaccine appointments would be made available.

Now the county is switching to the statewide form operated by the Oregon Health Authority, hoping that will help streamline the process.

The link for the new registration process is getvaccinated.oregon.gov.

People who have already received their first dose of the vaccine through the county do not need to register again, the county said.

For more information, or for assistance in registering, call 503-474-4100, or 211.

In addition, the county has now assigned several people to make phone calls about vaccine appointments, which has helped expedite matters, Health and Human Services Director Lindsey Manfrin said, during last week’s Elected Officials Roundtable discussion.

However, the county’s system appears to be plagued with inefficiency. Some people who received vaccination shots at county clinics reported they have been receiving phone calls from the county asking if they had gotten their shots. One person said he’d been told by the caller the county had suffered a “glitch,” necessitating the queries.

Manfrin denied that, saying the county had not experienced a database loss.

She said the county receives a weekly list from the state of people vaccinated through pharmacies and doctors, which it reconciles with its own internal data. She did not explain why the county appears to lack data about shots given at its own clinics.

One person said he has gotten multiple phone calls notifying him of appointments available even after informing the caller that he no longer needed an appointment.

Many county residents, frustrated by the long waits occasioned by the county’s low vaccine allocations, have turned to the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, which have opened vaccine clinics to the public, when extra doses were available after making appointments for tribal members.

More information about the tribes’ COVID-19 efforts is available on the website, at www.grandronde.or/covid-19-information, along with a link to a form to fill out, for people to ask to be notified of appointment opportunities.

According to the OHA, the state will distribute 236,000 doses of vaccine this week, and the county health department’s share of that will be 2,500 — 1,400 for first dose shots, and 1,100 for second dose shots.

Last week, Manfrin said the county expects to see its weekly allocation soon increased by several thousand, making it possible for the county to significantly reduce the time people have to wait for appointments.

On Friday, Governor Kate Brown announced the state will make all Oregon adults eligible for the vaccine by May 1, a goal set by President Joe Biden. 

As of Sunday, according to the Oregon Health Authority, the county had vaccinated 23,901 people, with at least one dose.

The county reported six new cases of COVID-19, from Saturday to Monday, and one additional death. A 70-year-old Yamhill County man tested positive on Feb. 4, and died March 11 at his home. He had underlying conditions, according to the Oregon Health Authority.

The county has now had 3,879 cases, and 70 deaths.

Statewide, there have been 2,363 deaths, and 161,531 cases, as of Sunday, according to the Oregon Health Authority.

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