Oregon Health Authority: Nearly half of Oregon health care workers not vaccinated against flu, OHA says
Nearly half of Oregon's health care workers were not vaccinated against influenza in the last flu season, the Oregon Health Authority said.
Rates of flu vaccination among health care workers have plummeted since the 2019-20 season, OHA said. OHA data, last updated Oct. 7, shows during the 2024-25 season, about 54% of the state's 150,000 eligible health care workers were vaccinated, a decrease of about 36% from 2019-20.
“This is very worrying,” Healthcare-Associated Infections Program director Dr. Dat Tran said in a news release. “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.”
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Flu season runs from October through April. There have been about 45 positive tests in Oregon so far and five hospitalizations.
“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.”
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