With more than a million Oregonians expected to travel over the Thanksgiving holiday week, the state’s COVID-19 immunization rate is significantly lower than it was at this time last year.

Oregon Health Authority Communicable Disease and Immunization Medical Director Howard Chiou told OPB that around 9% of Oregonians, or 360,000 people, had received this season’s COVID-19 vaccine. Chiou said that figure is 21% lower than this time last year.

Influenza vaccine rates are higher — about 1 million Oregonians have received this year’s flu shot — but Chiou said that’s still about 5% below the vaccine rate at this point last year.

Declining immunization rates are part of a broader trend stretching back over the past five years, according to Chiou.

“What’s worrying for me is that for both flu and COVID, there’s been this really steady decline every year in vaccination rates since 2020,” Chiou said. “And it’s really unfortunate because both flu and COVID can and do cause severe disease, and the vaccine is still really the best way to protect yourself and the people around you.”

Without comprehensive insight into the decision-making of those who are not choosing to get vaccinated, Chiou said, Oregon does not have a clear picture of why immunization rates are falling. But, he said, the state knows rates were much higher at the height of the pandemic when deaths and hospitalizations were at their peak, suggesting the immediate fear of severe illness may have been a motivating factor.

Chiou also pointed out that guidance for who should receive the COVID-19 vaccine has narrowed from everyone six months and older to everyone 65 and older and those with certain risk factors. The West Coast Health Alliance, a coalition including Oregon, Washington, California and Hawaii, recommends a COVID-19 vaccine for anyone 65 and older, anyone who is pregnant or planning to become pregnant, anyone with risk factors, and anyone who does not fall under these categories but wants a vaccine.

Chiou said it’s still too early to tell whether this year’s respiratory virus season will be severe or mild.

“I don’t suggest to people to wait to find out before getting the vaccine because there can often be delays before we get that kind of signal, and by then the virus is already spreading,” he said.

Recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate the flu virus could be spreading more rapidly in some parts of the country in recent weeks, the New York Times reported.

According to the OHA’s FluBites data, 25 Oregonians in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties were hospitalized with the flu between Oct. 1 and Nov. 15.

Chiou directed anyone searching for a flu or COVID-19 vaccine to the Oregon Health Authority website and recommended everyone talk with their health care provider about getting vaccinated.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/11/30/oregon-covid-19-flu-influenza-/