Oregon COVID-19 vaccine committee considers race-based recommendations for next round
The move is supposed to help alleviate racial inequities in the health care system
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}An Oregon vaccine advisory committee is recommending the state dole out coronavirus vaccines to communities of color, in an effort to alleviate racial inequities in the health care system. The committee's recommendation is also aimed at people who are disproportionately affected by the coronavirus pandemic due to their socioeconomic backgrounds, proponents of the guidelines said.
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The committee was created by the Oregon Health Authority as a way to address generational racism within the state's health care system and includes members from a bevy of racial justice and advocacy health groups. The health authority says it will follow the committee's recommendations if it can surmount legal challenges and get Gov. Kate Brown's sign-off.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The committee said that about 806,000 Black, Indigenous and people of color, (BIPOC) would receive a vaccine next if the recommendation is adopted at their next meeting, according to Oregon Live, the website operated by The Oregonian newspaper.
Currently, the governor has prioritized about 1.4 million people, including health care workers, senior care residents and staff, inmates, teachers, and some senior citizens, to get the first round of shots.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Advocates say these groups should take priority after the first batch is injected, over other frontline workers and members of non-minority communities.
"We strongly believe that we need to prioritize the people who are in significantly vulnerable situations and who are dying right now — frontline workers, adults in custody, and people in low-income senior housing and other congregate care facilities," wrote members of the Oregon Legislature’s BIPOC Caucus in the letter, which was obtained by OPB.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"These frontline and essential workers, adults in custody, and people in low-income senior housing and other congregate care settings, are disproportionately BIPOC, and by prioritizing frontline and essential workers and communities, we are centering BIPOC communities," the letter said.