As Oregon limps toward a 70% vaccination rate, we're sitting within sight of the target and the rate at which people are being vaccinated is dropping seriously.

It's not hard to speculate as to why the rate of vaccination is dropping. Those willing to be vaccinated -- some people would have crawled across broken glass to get the vaccine -- have all been done. Large, easy to herd groups that would be considered low-hanging fruit by the number-counters have probably been done. These would be large employers, large living situations, etc.

What's left on the last few uphill miles on the road to 70% are people with medical issues who are reluctant to get the vaccine, and rural, hard-to-reach people who, in addition to being hard to get to, might not be so warm to getting the vaccine. Part of getting some people to get the vaccine involves trust and it seems that trust has been trampled on at nearly every turn by the Governor and the Oregon Health Authority.

"Oregon is so close to more fully reopening our economy, and I am grateful to everyone who has stepped up to get vaccinated. We will soon need to reach fewer than 100,000 Oregonians to achieve our statewide vaccination goal of 70% and lift the county risk level framework," said Governor Kate Brown.

Democrat Counties are doing better than rural ones. Washington and Hood River Counties lead with 71%, followed by Multnomah and Benton Counties with 70%. Vaccines seem not to be a priority in Lake County where scant more than a third of the residents have been vaccinated. Are the low numbers in Eastern Oregon due to an inability to overcome the logistical challenges of administering vaccines to a sparse population, or to the population's resistance to getting vaccinated -- perhaps driven by the sparseness of the population. Someone who lives 30 miles from the nearest town and 10 miles from the nearest neighbor might not see the need.

Though there doesn't seem to be any basis in science for the threshold of 70%, it's an important number. We're getting to the point where the continued COVID-19 regulations will have more than just economic consequences. They will have political consequences.




--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2021-06-13 20:37:24

Last Update: 2021-06-14 08:42:43