Oregon’s vaccination rate has slowed

By Terry Murry on Friday, June 18th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

PENDLETON – Earlier this week, Oregon officials thought it would be just a few days before the state’s vaccination rate hit 70 percent and the state could reopen. Umatilla County Board of Commissioners Chairman George Murdock said that at that time, about 1 percent of the population was being vaccinated on a daily basis. Then, it slowed.

“I talked to the governor’s office Wednesday, and it dropped to 0.2 percent, so it’s not getting to 70 percent quite as fast as they thought,” he said.

Gov. Kate Brown has said Oregon will reopen when the state rate is 70 percent. Murdock said he’s convinced that will happen before Umatilla County could ever work its way out of the high risk category.

“Umatilla County will not be at 70 percent,” he said. “We will probably be in the mid-40s, I hope, by then.”