[ad_1]
An elected official representing Oregon’s 12th most populous county told residents listening to a town hall meeting Wednesday that they should trust God, not doctors or scientists, when it comes to deciding whether to be vaccinate against COVID-19.
“You’re just going to have to ask God and pray for wisdom on this one because you can’t trust politicians, you can’t trust doctors, you sure can’t trust the CDC or any organization. world health. Josephine County Commissioner Darin Fowler said at the three-person virtual council of commissioners meeting.
Fowler was responding to public comments at the meeting and the threat that Josephine County, like many rural areas of the state with low vaccination rates among health workers, could face an exodus of hospital staff and medical unvaccinated when Governor Kate Brown’s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers begins Oct. 18.
Fowler’s comments go against an overwhelming body of evidence that vaccines are safe and effective. The Oregon Health Authority has always said vaccination is “the safest, most effective and most reliable way” to stay safe from COVID-19. The state’s public health agency has spent months trying to tackle misinformation and vaccine reluctance, in part by encouraging people to “talk to your doctor about your concerns.”
“It is clear that scientific interventions – from vaccinations to masks to social distancing – have slowed the spread of COVID-19 and saved lives,” Rudy Owens, spokesperson for the agency, said Thursday in a statement. E-mail. “But these interventions would only work if the vast majority of Oregon residents were willing to get vaccinated, wear a mask and pay attention to social gatherings.”
Remarks by Fowler and other elected officials at Wednesday’s meeting came despite the fact that Josephine County was one of the hardest hit by COVID-19 during the summer delta wave. Only 53% of adults in the county are fully vaccinated, compared to a statewide average of 70% and rates topping 80% in some of the state’s most populous areas. It’s also the latest example of COVID misinformation, vaccine skepticism and anti-mandate rhetoric that county commissioners have espoused for months. Earlier this summer, YouTube removed a video from one of the committee’s regular meetings for alleged disinformation.
Public health experts say low vaccination rates are the reason why Josephine and other counties in southern Oregon saw record numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths during the summer outbreak of the virus caused by the delta variant.
But Fowler The comments, which were echoed to some extent by commissioner and former state senatorial minority leader Herman Baertschiger, as well as county chairman Dan DeYoung, highlight the radical divisions around the state over the effectiveness and safety of coronavirus vaccines, and who to trust.
“The whole status (sic) of whether a vaccinated person has died or an unvaccinated person has died, these are just statistics,” DeYoung said. “Remember the old adage that liars use statistics and statistics are for liars, or something like that… I think the purpose is very obvious, and I think it does a very good job of dividing this nation. . “
Wednesday’s meeting also highlighted disagreement over the governor’s power to impose mandates on individuals in general and health workers in particular.
Looming vaccination deadline raises concerns statewide that already understaffed hospitals and clinics could face a new capacity crisis when the mandate goes into effect and unvaccinated staff are put in place. on leave or dismissed. This scenario is already playing out in various health systems, some of which have established earlier timelines for staff to check their immunization status, as individuals are not considered immune until two weeks after completing their injections.
Challenges to vaccination warrants have generally gone badly in court. Earlier this week, the Oregon Court of Appeals refused to temporarily suspend Brown’s vaccination warrants, a step she was asked to take in a lawsuit filed by a group of 25 workers at the statewide health care, firefighters and paramedics. The ruling said the complainant’s arguments in the case had “little or no chance of success.”
State attorneys pointed to a 1905 United States Supreme Court case that upheld the authority of states to establish vaccination warrants, in this case, smallpox vaccinations. They also cited the state’s power to require schoolchildren to be vaccinated.
Concerns about the ramifications for unvaccinated medical workers may be of greater importance in Josephine County, a largely rural jurisdiction in southern Oregon that includes the town of Grants Pass. State data shows that as of September 5, Josephine County had a vaccination rate among licensed health professionals of just 65%, the tenth lowest among 36 counties in Oregon at the time. there, although this figure encompasses a wide range of medical professions and has certainly increased. in the past month.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Josephine County commissioners voted unanimously to send a letter to the governor asking him to eliminate the vaccine’s mandate or extend the deadline until November 30. Charles Boyle, a spokesperson for Brown, said his office had received a number of similar messages. requests from other counties, although he could not immediately provide copies.
On the contrary, the summer outbreak of COVID and the resulting mandates have helped increase the polarization and politicization on the virus and vaccinations.
“There are a lot of opinions, especially about this COVID,” said Baertschiger, one of the county commissioners, who said he was not opposed to vaccinations. “In this political world, which I know a little about, as politicians try to gain ground, they always try to find corner problems, whether it is immigration, racism, and now it is COVID. Everyone knows this vaccine and COVID problem is a 50-50 problem. This is what we in politics call a wedge problem, and everyone is trying to fight their way with it in one way or another. But please understand that there are other opinions.
Hunter, for his part, has repeatedly referred to politics when discussing his opposition. He challenged the Democratic governor’s motives, arguing without evidence that his real motivation for imposing the mandate was to purge Republicans from the state.
“I think that’s a lot of what’s behind the governor’s agenda right now, is cleaning Oregon of all the red and going as blue as possible,” Fowler said. “It’s also very anti-American. This is petty politics and it shows the immaturity of our governor’s level. She doesn’t know what she is doing.
He also added: “You cannot put aside the right to liberty and liberty in the name of a mandate,” he said. “People still in America have the freedom to choose, and I am shocked that people are willing to give up that for the good of society. It sounds very communist, very socialist. This is not America’s goal.
Boyle, the governor’s spokesperson, said Brown was pursuing a pragmatic approach to a public health crisis and his goal was to keep schools, communities and businesses open.
“Our hospitals are full and our doctors, nurses and healthcare workers are stretched beyond their limits,” he said in an email. “Hospitalizations increased by nearly 1000% between July 9 and their peak in September. The vast majority of Oregonians hospitalized with COVID-19 are not vaccinated. People are dying right now when we have free, safe and effective vaccines. “
He went on to say that COVID-19 outbreaks in workplaces across the state are happening right now and are already disrupting the workforce.
“The governor is pursuing the approach that makes the most sense from a public health and workforce perspective. “
To see more data and trends, visit https://projects.oregonlive.com/coronavirus.
–Ted Sickinger; [email protected]; 503-221-8505; @tedsickinger
[ad_2]
Source link