New COVID-19 vaccine lottery debuts; 750 alerted Monday they were selected for a shot

Vaccinations begin for educators at Oregon Convention Center

COVID-19 vaccination stations are set up at The Oregon Convention Center on January 27, 2021, in Portland.Brooke Herbert/The Oregonian

The first day of Oregon’s new lottery system for doling out COVID-19 vaccine appointments in the Portland area left most seniors still coming up snake eyes – or feeling that way, at the very least.

More than 200,000 Oregonians aged 65 to 69 who had yet to receive the vaccine became eligible Monday, joining the ever-growing line of seniors already waiting for appointments.

Last week, state health officials announced they would scrap the digital free-for-all for scheduling a shot at the Oregon Convention Center, one of two mass vaccination sites in Portland. That booking system forced thousands of seniors to frantically attempt to secure online appointments at 9 a.m. Mondays or Thursdays before the slots quickly disappeared, overwhelming the technology and frustrating Oregonians.

Now, seniors seeking an appointment at the convention center must sign-up through the state’s vaccine notification system if they live or work in Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington or Columbia counties. Oregonians who sign up will later be selected at random through a lottery system and notified that they can book an appointment.

As of Friday, the state said 208,365 people had registered for the system via the getvaccinated.oregon.gov website. But the Oregon Health Authority did not answer when asked how many people had signed up Monday alone.

Only 1,900 appointments will be made available March 3 to 9, according to one of the four medical providers running the convention center clinic, although it’s not clear if that’s the total figure available.

Rudy Owens, a state health spokesperson, did not provide a figure for the number of lottery recipients. “This is determined by the number of appointments available,” he said in an email.

The new system has left some seniors with a new unknown: Did I get through the system correctly, and will I be receiving a call soon?

“I’m not sure I’m in the lottery system,” said Steve Weiner, a 72-year-old Beaverton man who was still looking for an appointment after missing out under the old system last week.

Weiner and his wife, Teresa Barker, struggled to register through the state’s portal Monday morning. They were able to eventually register but said they struggled to log back into the system. Neither was sure they’d get a call anytime soon.

“Am I going to hear back from somebody in July?” Weiner asked. “Is it going to be next week? It’s like a mystery game.”

Oregon’s rollout for the elderly has left many wanting. Gov. Kate Brown prioritized vaccinating teachers over seniors, with Oregonians 80 and older not able to schedule appointments until Feb. 8.

The state has expanded eligibility by five-year increments each week since. The largest wave hit Monday, when 255,000 more Oregonians age 65-69 became eligible, although about 40,000 people in that range had already secured a shot because they live in nursing homes or otherwise qualified.

Lisa Helderop, a spokesperson for Providence Health & Services, one of the four health care giants running the convention center facility, said the organizations expect to receive 3,000 names from the Oregon Health Authority of eligible Portland area residents to contact.

Only 1,900 appointments are actually available for filling between March 3 to 9, she said. Appointments will be confirmed on the phone, not via email, she said.

“We sent texts to 750 people today letting them know we would be calling to schedule a vaccination appointment,” Helderop said in an email Monday.

“After we send texts, we start calling people,” she added. “We will make two attempts to contact each person via phone. The texts/calls are taking place over four days.”

Owens said anyone who was eligible and had provided their information -- including those who signed up last week or Monday -- were among those included in the lottery. The agency “provided a strictly random sample” of people 65 and older for schedule appointments, he said. A smaller section of that age group “may be considered for future appointments as this process continues to evolve,” he added.

It’s not clear that the lottery system will help the state address its inequities in the percentage of people of color who have received a vaccine so far. The state, Owens said, is not referring people based on ethnicity or race. That information was optional in the notification system, he said, and “only a limited number of individuals have chosen to include that data in their profile.”

Switching to the new system seemed to prevent major disruptions. Owens said he was not aware of any down time Monday for the Get Vaccinated Oregon tool, though he did say that the chat bot, which was used for weeks to help seniors and educators navigate to the scheduling interface, presented issues for some users.

Meanwhile, the region’s other mass vaccination site, at Portland International Airport, still booked appointments the old way: with Oregonians needing to snag a spot when the slots opened at 9 a.m. Mondays and Thursdays.

Oregon Health & Science University, which is managing the drive-through clinic at Portland International Airport, said it saw a similar number of users trying to register for appointments Monday morning. The site is for people with mobility issues.

Tamara Hargens-Bradley, an OHSU spokesperson, said the airport’s 2,400 appointment slots available in coming days were snatched up in 10 minutes.

“Last Thursday, the same number of appointments booked in approximately 10 minutes,” she said.

OHSU will release more appointments Thursday morning at 9 a.m.

During a Monday afternoon legislative hearing, Oregon Health Authority executive David Baden acknowledged the state has a long way to go to vaccinate all seniors. Officials hope to have enough vaccines to provide shots to seniors who want them by the end of March, he said.

Aiding those efforts are 34,000 of the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines that are soon expected.

“There won’t be any additional to order for the next couple weeks,” Baden said, saying it was “a little bit of a onetime order.”

Baden said Oregon expects to receive more of the single dose vaccine eventually, but it has a three-week forecast from the federal government that helps with planning for future supply. He said millions of the Johnson & Johnson shot are expected nationwide in coming weeks.

“We’ll see what exactly that means for us,” Baden told lawmakers.

Weiner, the Beaverton man, and his wife were still trying to figure out Monday what Oregon’s new vaccination system meant for them, too.

Many hours after registering for the online notification system that is the critical piece of the state’s new lottery program, Barker, 68, received a text message saying she had successfully registered.

It felt good to know the system functioned to that point, Barker said in an email. Now she’ll have to wait until she’s randomly selected.

— Andrew Theen; atheen@oregonian.com; 503-294-4026; @andrewtheen

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