Oroville Hospital is expecting its first shipment of vaccines; arrival date to be determined

OROVILLE » Oroville Hospital is expecting its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines. When those vaccines will arrive is unclear, however the expectation is soon.

In a prepared statement Robert Wentz, Oroville Hospital CEO, stated: “We expect a shipment as early as tomorrow (Thursday) and we are prepared to deploy the vaccine the day it is delivered. We will be receiving 3,200 vaccine doses for the first round.”

According to Butte County Public Health Department, the hospital’s application for vaccines is still under review.

“Oroville’s application is still under review at the state. No orders will be placed for them and no deliveries will be made until we receive approval from the

state. Once approved, we will place an order for them to receive doses. We expect them to be approved this week, but do not have confirmation yet,” said Lisa Almaguer, Butte County Public Health communications manager.

On Dec.10, BCPH announced that the state had allocated nearly 10,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to Butte County, which includes approximately 3,000 doses from Pfizer and 7,000 doses from Moderna. Of these doses, BCPH allocated almost 5,000 to Enloe Medical Center.

The process for the phased and prioritized distribution of the vaccine by the state required local health departments to identify all of the acute care hospitals in their respective counties and then invite those hospitals to apply to the state to become “an approved COVID-19 vaccine provider,” said Almaguer.

“We invited Enloe, Oroville and Orchard ( hospitals) to sign up through the state. Only Enloe had completed the process by the time we were able to place the first order, which was last Thursday ( December 10). Both Oroville and Orchard have applied and are pending approval from the state. We have not placed an order for Oroville (at this time),” said Almaguer.

While the timing of the delivery is unclear, Shanna Roelofson, Oroville Hospital communications director, said that Wentz said, “We still have the expectation that we could get the vaccines as early as tomorrow.”

Once the hospital does receive the vaccines Roelofson said, according to Wentz, they are prepared to administer both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to health care staff based on “a tiered plan based on patient contact and the essential nature of the job.”

Bill Connelly, Butte County supervisor, said he was very glad to hear that Oroville Hospital would be getting the vaccines soon and that he hoped janitors and maintenance staff would be included along with health care professions in the first round of vaccine administration because “without them, you can’t keep things sanitary. They are essential too.”

Roelofson also said that Oroville Hospital’s vaccine application included vaccines for both Oroville Fire and Police Departments’ staff.

“We are also partnering with the county by vaccinating Oroville-area firstline EMS, sheriff and jail personnel,” said Roelofson.