New OHA data show rates continue dramatic decline since 2019-’20 season - OHA release - PORTLAND, Ore.—Rates of influenza vaccination among health care workers in Oregon plummeted over the last five respiratory virus seasons, raising the risk of infection for patients, according to new Oregon Health Authority (OHA) data.  The Healthcare Worker Influenza Vaccination Dashboard, published by OHA’s Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) Program, shows that 54% of the state’s nearly 150,000 eligible health care workers from ambulatory surgery centers, dialysis centers, hospitals, inpatient psychiatric facilities and skilled nursing facilities were vaccinated during the 2024-2025 flu season. That’s an 11% decrease from the 2023-2024 season and a 36% drop since the 2019-2020 season.  The fact that only about half of eligible health care workers are vaccinated against flu is alarming, OHA officials say, as they try to prevent the virus’s spread to people most at risk of severe illness and death.  “This is very worrying,” said Dat Tran, M.D., the HAI Program’s medical director. “We are not seeing flu vaccination rates among health care workers keeping pace with flu activity during respiratory virus seasons, even as that activity returns to higher, pre-pandemic levels.”  Boosting vaccination rates among health care workers doesn’t just protect patients, Tran explained. It also prevents spread of the virus among the health care workforce, reducing absenteeism, lost productivity and health care costs.  OHA requires annual reporting of health care worker influenza vaccination data from four facility types: ambulatory surgery centers, dialysis centers, hospitals, inpatient psychiatric facilities and nursing facilities. Data are self-reported by facilities and include aggregate counts of health care workers, stratified by health care worker category; who received an influenza vaccination; who declined; who had a medical contraindication; and who had unknown vaccination status.  The Healthcare Worker Influenza Vaccination Dashboard filters data by facility type, county and worker classification. Trends by influenza season and facility-specific data are also available.  Ambulatory surgery centers reported the highest influenza vaccination rate among workers—61%. They were followed by hospitals at 60%, dialysis centers at 50%, and nursing facilities and inpatient psychiatric facilities each at 30%.  Dialysis centers and inpatient psychiatric facilities were the only facility types that saw increases in health care worker influenza vaccinations from the 2023-2024 season. Dialysis center influenza vaccination rates have been on a steady, upward trend since 2021-2022, when they were at 27%.  The proportion of eligible health care workers who declined influenza vaccination during the 2024-2025 season remained at 18%, the same as last season. Additionally, a high proportion of health care workers reported having an unknown vaccination status—28%, up from 21% the year before—which may contribute to low vaccination rates and illustrates the need for facilities to improve documentation of vaccination status.  The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services developed Healthy People 2020 with 10-year objectives for improving the health of all Americans, including showing progress toward a 90% influenza vaccination goal for the health care workforce. However, Healthy People 2030 does not include a goal focused on increasing flu vaccinations among health care workers, so Oregon is continuing to use the Healthy People 2020 health worker vaccination goal as a way of directing public health action and showing where more support and education is needed.  To achieve 90% vaccination coverage, a total of 53,260 additional health care workers would have needed to have been vaccinated during the 2024-2025 influenza season. Health care facilities can take steps to meet this metric, Tran said. Public health recommendations include encouraging health care workers, including those not employed by the facility—such as contractors and volunteers—to get vaccinated at the beginning of every influenza season. Facilities can also host promotional activities, such as holding mass vaccination fairs, providing vaccines at no cost to employees, starting incentive programs, and documenting all health care workers’ vaccination status and requiring a declination form for health care workers who forgo vaccination.  “It’s really important that health care workers step up and get vaccinated,” Tran said. “They all want to protect their patients and prevent a potentially catastrophic outbreak of influenza, which can be deadly for high-risk individuals.”  OHA has developed a toolkit for health care employers and workers to help them improve employee flu vaccinations rates at their facilities to protect patients, themselves and their families.