Vaccination rates vary depending on where you live
Published 1:00 pm Friday, July 30, 2021
SALEM — Vaccination rates drop significantly outside of the Portland metro area, according to results of a Oregon Values and Beliefs Center survey.
The online survey of Oregon residents showed the three counties making up the Portland area had a 77% vaccination rate. In the survey, 42% overall said they had not received a COVID-19 vaccine.
The survey conducted July 9-14 of 1,464 residents has a margin of error for the full sample ranging from plus or minus 1.5% to plus or minus 2.6%, depending on the response category for any given question.
The survey results mirror those from December 2020 that gauged how likely someone would be to get the vaccine when it became available. The results were published at the same time Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced the state would follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indoor-mask guidelines.
People who identified as socially conservative were four times as likely to say they would not receive the vaccine than those who said they were liberal. What’s more, nearly all those surveyed who said they were college educated reported having received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
“In Oregon, as in most other states, vaccination has become a politically polarized issue,” said Amaury Vogel, Oregon Values and Beliefs Center associate executive director. “Political ideology when it comes to social issues, is a strong predictor of whether or not a person has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.”
As of Thursday, July 29, the Oregon Health Authority reported 30,936 people have been fully vaccinated or are in progress in Umatilla and Morrow counties. That translates to about 44% of the population who are 18 and older in the two counties, according to the OHA data.
“Oregonians who remain unvaccinated share the same reasons as being the most influential in their decision not to get vaccinated: Long- and short-term side effects and the concerns that the vaccine was developed too quickly,” Vogel said.
The Oregon Values and Voices project, a nonpartisan charitable organization, has partnered with Pamplin Media Group, EO Media Group and the Oregon Values and Beliefs Center. EO Media Group owns newspapers in Oregon and Washington state, including the East Oregonian.