File photo: Chas Hundley
Washington County’s Mobile Vaccine Team has scheduled several Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccination clinics in western Washington County in the coming weeks as the county works to combat the surging Delta variant.
The furthest west portions of Washington County not in the Portland Metro region have the lowest vaccine adoption rate in the county, according to zip code data tracking vaccination rates across the state from the Oregon Health Authority.
One exception to this is the community of Timber, which has pulled ahead of neighboring Buxton and Gales Creek by a wide margin. Timber’s 97144 zip code now has a 63.2% vaccination rate—meaning those who have received at least one dose of a vaccine—compared to Buxton’s 97109 at 45.4% and Gales Creek’s 97117 at 48.5%. In Banks and the surrounding areas in the 97106 zip code, the vaccination rate is currently 56.6%.
Washington County’s vaccination rate sits at 66.7%.
Several clinics and Banks and Timber have already been held, while clinics in Forest Grove have frequently been held during the Forest Grove Farmers Market.
According to the county’s mobile vaccine team schedule, a clinic will be held Wednesday, September 15 at Jim’s Market in Banks (12350 NW Main Street) from 5 to 7 p.m., just over three weeks from the previous clinic held there.
“I was contacted by Washington County about a van and tent set up coming out to offer vaccine shots to those that might want to get one,” Jim’s Market owner Mark Ward said in an email to the Banks Post. “I figured we had done flu shots and mammograms in the parking lot before so I agreed to them setting up August 24 and September 15 as a community service to those who may want to get a vaccine that has not received one,” Ward said.
“I just thought that there may be some people in the community that would like the opportunity to receive [a] vaccine at a convenient location,” he added.
Two days later on Friday, September 17, two clinics will be held in the area, one in Banks and another in Timber. The Banks clinic will be held at the Banks Fire District offices (13430 NW Main Street) from 12 to 2 p.m., followed by a clinic at the Timber Fire Station (60900 NW Cochran Road) from 4 to 7 p.m.
In Forest Grove, two clinics in the coming weeks are scheduled. During Pacific University’s Forest Grove Corn Roast and Fall Festival held on the university’s campus (2043 College Way) on Saturday, September 18, the clinic will host all three vaccines from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., followed by a clinic at the Forest Grove Farmers Market on Main Street Wednesday, September 22 from 4 to 8 p.m.
Louisa Partain, a senior program coordinator for Washington County’s Department of Health and Human Services noted that people can get their first or second dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna shot at the clinic. “Folks will receive a card that shows them where we’ll be 3 weeks from that date so they can get their 2nd shot if needed,” Partain said in an email to this newspaper. Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose shot is also available, and those who wish to get their second shot at a pharmacy can do so instead of visiting another county-run clinic.
Those ages 18 and older are eligible for the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, while those ages 12 and older can receive the Pfizer vaccine.
More information on vaccines in Washington County can be found on the Washington County Health and Human Services website at co.washington.or.us/vaccine.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Gales Creek Journal and sister news publications the Banks Post and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
