January 18th, 2021

Updates, Resources & Actions

• MLK Day: somlk.org – Video Event, Mon. January 18, 2pm
• The Skanner Foundation’s 35th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast

Top Updates
Jackson County, OR COVID-19 Prevalence – Interactive information
Jackson County COVID-19 Testing Sites
Most Recent Update on Vaccine Availability
COVID-19 Vaccine  – When will I get the vaccine, if I want it?”
OHA – To end the pandemic “90% of Adult Oregonians Need the Vaccine”
Oregon’s Plan to Vaccinate Seniors Delayed
New
Civil Liberties Defense Center – A dissenter’s take – Event on January 21st
Join online celebration of nuclear weapons abolition treaty January 21
Embridge Pipeline Protesters – Video Updates

Continued Actions
Neighbors helping neighbors
Jeff Merkley – A detailed agenda

The Skanner Foundation’s 35th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast

Monday, January 18, 2021 • 9:00 AM

The event will stream at 9:00 a.m. on The Skanner’s Youtube channel:
Youtube.com/c/TheSkannerNews. Subscribe and share the link!

Keynote Speaker: General Arthur T. Dean, RALI – on health and the African American Community

Special Addresses by:

• Senator Ron Wyden
• Senator Jeff Merkley
• Governor Kate Brown
• Mayor Ted Wheeler

Music:
We have a fantastic lineup including Portland’s singer/songwriter Tahirah Memory, Jazz musician Mike Phillips, Portland Symphonic Choir with Dorcas Brown Smith, and others to inspire us to begin 2021 with joy and determination to bring Dr. King’s dream a little closer to reality.

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Top Updates

“When will I get the vaccine, if I want it?”

Many Oregonians are wondering, “When will I get the vaccine, if I want it?” The answer varies depending on who you are and where your prioritization falls with the Oregon Health Authority’s Vaccine Advisory Committee, a group of public health experts tasked with determining who is worthy of receiving the vaccine or not. “They met for the first time last week to decide who will be vaccinated next, and in what order. So far, no decisions have been made.”

• Governor Kate Brown has deployed the National Guard to help with vaccine rollout after Oregon was deemed one of the worst states in the country for vaccination distribution.
• Oregon 262,300 doses of the 2 COVID-19 vaccines in the first shipment.

OPB offers plenty of reasons why the state has been lackluster in the vaccine rollout: “Distribution problems at the federal level and logistical challenges at the local level have slowed the state’s rollout and delayed further planning. Oregon was supposed to vaccinate 100,000 people by the end of Dec. 31. As of Friday, Jan. 8, Oregon was just two-thirds of the way to that goal. And with over 300,000 healthcare workers in the state, there’s a long way to go.”

• 500,000 people have already been prioritized in group 1a, including health care workers and then seniors and staff in congregate care facilities. Teachers will make up part of group 1b. Lake Oswego teachers are resisting reopening because they ‘don’t want to die or kill families’.
• Kate Brown has drastically changed course and has determined it is up to counties to decide if they want to reopen schools (aka what she should have done all along).
• Seniors that live alone, but are still at highest risk for COVID-19 complications, are not prioritized.

Continue Reading this Article

Health Authority Estimates 90% of Adult Oregonians Need to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine, or the Virus Itself, for the Pandemic to End

To halt the virus, Oregon will need to vaccinate all but a few adults, even as many hesitate.

Oregon plan to vaccinate seniors delayed, but educators can begin by end of January

SALEM, Ore. — Despite notifying the public of a swift reversal on expanded COVID-19 vaccinations on Friday morning, Governor Kate Brown said later in the day that state officials will still forge ahead with vaccinating educators and seniors on an adjusted timeline.

Brown announced the expansion of Oregon’s vaccination efforts to include teachers and seniors earlier this week, after the Trump administration said that it would release its full reserve of vaccine doses to the states. But Brown says that state officials recently learned Thursday that the stockpile was “a deception on a national scale.”

Read the FULL ARTICLE here

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New

Having secured the requisite 50 national ratifications, the global Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will enter into force and become international law on Friday, January 22. From 5 to 6 p.m. on Thursday the 21st, the Oregon and Washington chapters of Physicians for Social Responsibility will hold an online celebration that will include several speakers explaining the significance of this historic event.

Anyone can participate in the celebration, but registration in advance is required. RSVP here or paste the following url into your browser: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScDDunV3N-l5qGmOCZ_cQGKKwZQCFvOXHM7zdosN-mokioMWw/viewform

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