PORTLAND, Oregon — Benton County leads Oregon with the highest percentage of its population with at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose.
According to Oregon Health Authority records, as of May 27, Benton County had vaccinated 69.1% of its population 16-years and older.
Hood River County was close behind with 68.5%, followed by Washington County with 68.1% and Multnomah County with 67.7%.
Benton County also pulled off an impressive feat when 12-15 year-olds became eligible for the Pfizer vaccine. The county vaccinated 45% of that population in just one week.
“It really shows how much our community is interested in getting 12 to 15-year-olds vaccinated,” said Kelly Locey, communications coordinator at Benton County Health Department.
The vaccination effort included teens like 14-year-old Tana Hoffman who said she and friends sometimes talked about how excited they were to get the vaccine before it was cleared for them.
“Well, I do gymnastics and I wanted to go to practice and competitions and not be scared about being close to people and stuff without masks,” she said.
Tana's mom, Nichole, said they'd all been looking forward to it.
“When I found out they could get vaccinated, I picked them up early from school," said Nichole. "And it was the first time ever I said we’re gonna go get vaccinated. And both Tana and Caleb were both cheering. So, it was pretty cool."
The high vaccination rate in Benton County did not happen by accident. Long before the younger students were approved for the shots, Corvallis School District and Benton County Health worked together to put out messages to parents and students about the importance of getting vaccinated.
It’s something school district assistant superintendent Melissa Harder mentioned often as she talked about the effort.
“The collaboration with Benton County Health has been key in that,
Harder said. "We’re great partners with them."
The campaign to encourage vaccinations worked so well that hundreds of students, both middle schoolers and teens, made the shot a priority.
“We had just piles of middle school kids going to Reser Stadium to get vaccination on a specific vaccination event that was being held that day," Harder said. "And then the next week we had already been planning a specific teen vaccine event at Reser Stadium, there were prizes and all kinds of fun things happening at the same time. And about 738 teenagers were vaccinated that day."
Tana said she is now about to get her second shot.
Her mom, Nichole, said she did not push but also did not hide her feelings.
“It’s important for me because I think it’s the responsible thing to do as we’re in a pandemic and I want to get out of this pandemic and hang out with people and have fun!” Nichole said.
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