Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Thursday announced that every teacher in the state must be vaccinated against COVID-19, a reversal from her earlier assertions that superintendents and individual districts must decide on that requirement for themselves.
The rule goes into effect this fall and applies to other school staff and volunteers, the Oregon Department of Education said. Staff, faculty and volunteers may not opt out of the vaccination requirement unless they have a documented medical or religious exemption, agency spokeperson Marc Siegel said.
The state is not yet considering vaccination requirements for children 12 and older.
“COVID-19 poses a threat to our kids, and our kids need to be protected and they need to be in school,” Brown said during a news conference. “That’s why I’m willing to take the heat for this decision.”
The governor’s vaccination requirement marks the latest step to increase protections as the highly contagious delta variant breaks case and hospitalization records in Oregon, crushing the state in ways previously unseen throughout the pandemic.
Brown on Thursday also announced that health care workers must be vaccinated this fall and may no longer opt out in lieu of regular testing.
The vaccination mandate for teachers comes one day after Portland Public Schools, Oregon’s largest district, announced all of its educators must be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Sept. 1.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee similarly announced the state’s school and university employees must be vaccinated, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered teacher vaccinations a week ago.
Similar to Washington’s ordinance, Brown will require teachers to be immunized by Oct. 18. In a departure from the Evergreen State’s mandate, however, Oregon won’t enact its requirement until at least six weeks after the Federal Drug Administration fully approves the shots — an approval that’s expected this month.
The same timelines apply for health care workers.
The Oregon Nurses Association acknowledged in a statement that Brown’s requirement will likely increase vaccination rates among health care workers. But the union also said it could “put additional pressure on an already dangerous nurse staffing crisis in Oregon,” with some workers so deeply opposed to vaccination that they may leave the profession.
Meanwhile, Brown’s vaccination mandate for educators affects only K-12 and does not apply to employees at Oregon colleges, universities and child care centers. Pressed on that point, the governor replied, “All options are on the table.”
The governor’s decisions have been relentlessly criticized throughout the pandemic, particularly among some Oregonians who wanted various restrictions lifted before the state’s official June 30 reopening.
Brown entered the summer saying masking requirements would be set by school districts but pivoted in late July, announcing students and school staff again must wear masks inside classrooms, regardless of vaccination status.
School board meetings were soon overwhelmed by dissenting parents as some superintendents similarly expressed their desire for local control of their COVID-19 mitigation measures.
Brown as recently as last week also maintained that she would not require statewide vaccinations among educators, leaving decisions in the “very capable hands” of school districts.
The governor on Thursday did not directly address her shifting philosophy, although she said action is needed now as hospitals reach capacity.
Oregon on Thursday reported a new daily coronavirus case record of 2,971. The number of Oregonians hospitalized with COVID-19 in intensive care also set a new high, at 226, while total COVID-19 hospitalizations dipped slightly to 845. Researchers at OHSU project that number could rise to 1,075 by early September.
State and local health care officials painted a dire picture of Oregon’s hospital system Thursday, saying several medical centers are either at or near capacity and that nurses and doctors “may need to make heart-wrenching triage decisions about who they may save and who they may not.”
“Our health care system is on the verge of collapse in parts of the state,” Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen said.
Earlier this week, Brown announced 500 Oregon National Guard troops will assist 20 hospitals throughout the state and that as many as 1,500 might be deployed in the coming days or weeks to aid overtaxed doctors and nurses.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is also providing 24 EMTs in six emergency rooms in southern and central Oregon, Allen said.
Fourteen of those workers will land in Jackson and Josephine counties, where vaccination rates are among the lowest in the state and have seen some of the highest rates of infection per capita in the nation. Three of those emergency responders will be dispatched to St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, where CEO Jeff Absalon said medical workers have been suffering what he calls “moral injury.”
“They have not been able to care for patients in front of them the way they need,” he said.
Absalon said hospital staff are working feverishly to treat everyone who comes in the door, but that the waves of unvaccinated COVID-19 patients filling intensive care beds has led doctors and nurses to make tough choices about who to prioritize.
“Make safe choices. Our hospitals are full,” Absalon said.
The summer surge in infections raises doubts on Brown and state school chief Colt Gill’s previous assertions that all of Oregon’s students will return to the classroom full-time in the fall. Brown this week said the delta variant “puts this goal at risk.”
And on Tuesday, Gill told parents in a Facebook Q&A that although leaders in Salem aren’t considering another statewide return to distance learning, individual schools may need to pivot to remote education if the virus rages in the local community.
“I have asked our schools to be ready to react if they have those conditions locally,” Gill said.
Vaccinations are available to all children 12 and older, including most middle schoolers and all high school-aged students, but state data show only 53.4% of kids age 12 to 17 have received at least one dose. That’s the lowest rate of any eligible age group, although kids are also by far the least likely to suffer from severe COVID-19.
Gill on Thursday said the Oregon Department of Education isn’t yet considering an immunization requirement for children to attend school in-person.
That’s because schools are highly controlled environments, Gill said, where children and adults alike are “used to following a lot of rules.” He pointed to the fact that few students contracted COVID-19 when Oregon schools opened for hybrid learning and that none of those cases were traced back to a classroom.
“We’re basing our system on the success we had last spring,” Gill said.
--Eder Campuzano | 503-221-4344 | @edercampuzano | Eder on Facebook
Eder is The Oregonian’s education reporter. Do you have a tip about Portland Public Schools? Email ecampuzano@oregonian.com.