One out of five Oregonians are fully vaccinated against COVID-19
(The Center Square) – One out of five people in Oregon are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19 while another third are well on their way, state health officials report.
The milestone came courtesy of the CDC’s COVID Tracker on Thursday. The day followed more somber news on Wednesday when the Oregon Health Authority reported 481 new cases along with seven new deaths from the virus in Oregon, raising the state’s caseload to 168,128 and the death toll to 2,434 people.
OHA officials reported on Thursday that at least 168 cases in 25 Oregon counties stemmed from individuals fully vaccinated against the virus, three of whom have died from the virus. These “breakthrough cases” date back to April 2, the agency reports, and two weeks after the patients received their final dose. Those cases represent less than .001% of the more than 844,000 Oregonians who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and line up with similar rates in Washington to the north.
The OHA reports 18 of the 168 breakthrough patients were hospitalized within a month of their positive test, most of whom were older than 65 or had underlying health conditions. The majority, OHA official say, were asymptomatic.
None of the breakthrough cases were linked with the emerging COVID-19 strains in the state, the agency reported, which is not disclosing where they occurred.
Thursday’s first reported breakthrough cases also mark the OHA’s first public report on the phenomenon amid numerous records requests from Oregon media outlets. The OHA has often cited medical privacy laws such as Oregon Revised Statutes 433.008 blocking such information from being made public. The law, which states data gathered from disease outbreaks “is confidential and is exempt from disclosure,” often allows state health officials to release whatever they wish regarding such information.
Oregon’s COVID reporting has not gone without controversy since the onset of the pandemic. One bill in the state legislature this session from state Sens. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, and Karin Power, D-Milwaukie, would strip the state of its power to withhold aggregate disease data from the public save for identifying patient information. The bill, SB 719, will see a legislative work session on Monday.
OHA public health officials wrote that the news should be “a reminder that while the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines are all highly effective at preventing severe COVID-19 illness and death, no vaccine is 100% effective, and vaccine breakthrough cases will occur.”
There is still not vaccine approved for people ages 16 and under, a crucial step if the state of 4.2 million people plans on reaching herd immunity or the stage at which disease spreads less easily. State and federal health officials have pegged that number at 70% or more of the population.
They add that Oregonians can best mitigate vaccine breakthrough cases by basic public health interventions, like wearing a face mask, social distancing, and avoiding get-togethers.
Oregon is slated to open up priority vaccinations to the general public on April 19 ahead of the Biden administration’s original May 1 deadline.
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