PORTLAND, Ore. — At least 62% of all Oregonians have gotten at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, but some are still hesitant despite Pfizer's vaccine getting full approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week.
Nonprofit Boost Oregon hopes to change their minds.
Boost Oregon is run by a group of parents, doctors, nurses and epidemiologists, with a goal to "empower people to make science-based vaccine decisions for themselves, their families and the community."
It was started 6 years ago, before the pandemic, in response to the low vaccination rates among kindergartners in Oregon.
"We wanted to find out why people were making these decisions and how can we support them and let them understand exactly what vaccines are, how they work in the body and why they're important," said founding executive director Nadine Gartner.
The group provides educational resources and organizes live workshops and seminars. Gartner said there is a difference between the hesitancy they are seeing with the COVID-19 vaccine and what they've seen before — but the underlying similarity is fear.
"It's either fear of side effects, fear of losing one's community, fear of turning one's back on a pollical party. They think that taking the vaccine is somehow a betrayal of their political values," explained Gartner.
She said you can't address that fear by giving those who are hesitant facts about the effectiveness of the vaccine. Instead, she suggests reaching people with emotion.
"So understand what really the person's hesitancy is and let them know that you care about their health and their wellbeing," said Gartner. "People want to know you care, before they care what you know."
She said personal stories can also help convince others to get the shot.
"We're trying to meet people where they're at for people to make the best decision for their health," said Gartner.