Salem Health began a Covid vaccine clinic at the state fairgrounds on Jan. 7 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)
A state committee that will decide how Oregon will prioritize vaccinations for essential workers and people with underlying health conditions is meeting Thursday.
Gov. Kate Brown’s vaccine advisory committee meets Jan. 14 from 10 a.m. to noon on Zoom and is open to the public. A link to view the meeting or submit public comment is available on the committee’s website.
The group is tasked with ensuring the state’s vaccination plan is equitable and includes communities most impacted by Covid, which has disproportionately sickened Black, Pacific Islander and Latino Oregonians. It includes more than two dozen representatives from Oregon hospitals, tribes, advocacy organizations and health care nonprofits.
Those from the Salem area include Marin Arreola, a program director with the Interface Network, a nonprofit health care organization that has worked on mass testing events and providing assistance in Spanish and Russian to people seeking information about Covid. They also include Shawn Baird, director of Woodburn Ambulance and Daysi Bedolla Sotelo, organizing director with PCUN, Oregon’s farmworker union.
