PORTLAND, Oregon — Around Oregon, reaction to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval skewed hopeful among frontline health care providers.
In the Columbia Gorge, the medical group One Community Health, which serves low-income and migrant populations around Hood River and The Dalles, planned to push out an update to its patients immediately.
“We’re gonna probably text message all of our unvaccinated patients, letting them know that it's been fully approved and hopefully get some more individuals signed up for the vaccine,” said CEO Max Janasik. He said of 21,000 patients, roughly 30%, or 6,300, are not vaccinated.
In Woodburn, the Salud Medical Clinic is another federally recognized health care provider on the front lines.
Dr. Antonio Germann said FDA approval will open minds and sway some who were undecided about whether to trust the vaccine.
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“We see a lot of patients that come in that have these questions – and so I think this will give, for my providers and myself, that one on one interaction with patients to say, 'Hey look, the science is there,'" said Germann. "And now we can really say that today with that full authorization and lend support for that."
In Southern Oregon, around the Medford area where vaccination rates are low and infection numbers are high, doctor Dan Weiner said things are so bad there is a slight uptick in the number of people getting COVID shots.
But the issue is now so political that some need an excuse to break away from their friends and he believes the FDA approval will help.
"I think people are looking for their health care professional that they trust to give them some excuse if you will – to say, 'Well my doctor said I really needed to because x or y,'" said Weiner. "And it feels like that’s having an impact. That’s giving them some kind of leverage that they can have within their families."
But Weiner also worries there will be others who will not get the shot, no matter what.
“I have patients who are really quite torn," said Weiner. "They would like to get vaccinated. They’re scared not to and yet the stigma associated with it in their social circles is so great that they ah – 18, 19, 20-year-old kids who want to get vaccinated but can’t because their parents are so staunchly opposed to it,” he said.
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