Baker County ranks near the middle of Oregon’s 36 counties in its rate of administering COVID-19 vaccines.

As of Wednesday, Jan. 6, a total of 209 county residents had received the first of two doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, according to the Oregon Health Authority (OHA).

The county’s rate of 124.27 per 10,000 population ranks 15th among counties.

In Eastern Oregon, Baker County’s vaccination rate trails Harney County (151 inoculations, a rate of 205.16 per 10,000) and Wallowa County (92 people vaccinated, a rate of 128.65 per 10,000).

“I think it’s progressing well,” Nancy Staten, director of the Baker County Health Department, said on Tuesday.

Staten said most vaccines have been administered at Saint Alphonsus Medical Center, with most doses going to doctors, nurses and other health care workers based on the OHA’s vaccine prioritization plan.

That plan’s top priorities — Phase 1a — includes four groups (categories within each group are not listed in order of priority for vaccination).

• Group 1: hospitals, urgent care, skilled nursing and memory care facility health care professionals and residents, tribal health programs, EMS providers and other first responders

• Group 2: other long-term care facility residents and congregate care sites including health care professionals and residents, hospice programs, mobile crisis care and related services, secure transport, individuals working in a correctional setting

• Group 3: outpatient settings serving specific high-risk groups, in-home care, day treatment services, non-emergency medical transport

• Group 4: health care professionals in outpatient, public health and early learning centers, death care workers, including mortuaries

Doses of COVID-19 vaccine will be available on Friday, Jan. 8, for residents and staff at Meadowbrook Place, said Julie Daly, community relations director and director of sales and marketing.

Nicole Howerton, administrator at Memory Lane Homes in Baker City, said that facility should receive vaccine doses within the next two weeks.

According to the OHA, between 300,000 and 400,000 Oregonians are in one of the groups and eligible to receive a vaccine in Phase 1a.

“We want to get through this 1a prioritization as soon as we can,” Staten said.

A state committee is meeting regularly, she said, to determine priority groups for future phases, 1b and 1c.

According to OHA, these are likely to include critical workers (including teachers and other school employees), people at high risk for severe effects from COVID-19 due to underlying medical conditions, and people 65 and older.

Because the first federally approved vaccine, produced by Pfizer-BioNTech, must be stored at 94 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, the initial doses have been distributed through Saint Alphonsus Health System, which has freezers capable of storing the virus at the hospital in Ontario.

Those doses are then driven to the Baker City hospital.

The Baker County Health Department can’t store that vaccine here, Staten said.

The Moderna vaccine, however, does not require such cold temperatures for storage.

Staten said the Health Department received its first allocation of 100 doses of the Moderna vaccine last week.

As of Tuesday, six Health Department employees had received their first dose.

Both vaccines require two doses. With the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the second dose is recommended about 21 days after the first. Staten said some Baker County health care professionals will soon receive their second doses of that vaccine.

The second dose of the Moderna vaccine will be given about 28 days after the first.

Although the health department’s role in vaccination has been limited so far, Staten said that will change when the state moves into phase 1b, which will include many more people than in phase 1a.

Staten said the department will set up clinics, likely at multiple locations, to inoculate residents.

“We will be doing quite a few of those,” she said. “I wish I knew when. It’s going to take some time, but we want to get vaccine in arms.”

At the Powder River Correctional Facility, the minimum-security prison that houses about 320 inmates in Baker City, employees have the option of receiving a vaccine at the hospital, said Debi Geddes, the prison’s correctional rehabilitation manager/administrative services manager.

The prison, which until Dec. 13 had had no positive cases among inmates, as of Tuesday had 45 inmates and 13 employees test positive.

Vaccines in Baker County

As of  Wednesday, Jan. 6, 209 people in Baker County had received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. The daily totals:

• Dec. 18 — 34 doses

• Dec. 19 — 1

• Dec. 20 — 0

• Dec. 21 — 25

• Dec. 22 — 1 

• Dec. 23 — 32

• Dec. 24 — 0

• Dec. 25 — 0

• Dec. 26 — 1

• Dec. 27 — 2 

• Dec. 28 — 7

• Dec. 29 — 10

• Dec. 30 — 78

• Dec. 31 — 11

• Jan. 1 — 0

• Jan. 2 — 0

• Jan. 3 — 1

• Jan. 4 — 0

• Jan. 5 — 6