COVID-19 vaccination rates drop significantly outside of the Portland metro area, according to results of an Oregon Values and Beliefs Center survey.

The online survey of Oregon residents showed the three counties making up the Portland area had a 77% vaccination rate. In the survey, 42% of those surveyed said they had not received a COVID-19 vaccine.

The survey results mirror those from December 2020 that gauged how likely someone would be to get the vaccine when it became available. The results were published at the same time Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced the state would follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indoor masking guidelines.

People who identified as socially conservative were four times as likely to say they would not receive the vaccine than those who said they were liberal. Nearly all those surveyed who said they were college educated reported having received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“In Oregon, as in most other states, vaccination has become a politically polarized issue,” said Amaury Vogel, Oregon Values and Beliefs Center associate executive director. “Political ideology when it comes to social issues is a strong predictor of whether or not a person has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.”

Some of the responses to the survey of why people would not become vaccinated included:

• “The jab is a psychotic global attempt to fulfill a depopulation agenda.”

• “This is not a vaccine. It is an experimental gene therapy drug. I chose not to be a guinea pig.”

• One resident said he had survived severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003.

“Oregonians who remain unvaccinated share the same reasons as being the most influential in their decision not to get vaccinated: Long- and short-term side effects and the concerns that the vaccine was developed too quickly,” Vogel said.

The survey conducted July 9-14 of 1,464 residents has a margin of error for the full sample ranging from plus or minus 1.5% to plus or minus 2.6%, depending on the response category for any given question.

The Oregon Values and Beliefs Center, a nonpartisan charitable organization, has partnered with Pamplin Media Group and EO Media Group to report how Oregonians think and feel about various subjects. 

The Oregon Values and Beliefs Center is committed to the highest level of public opinion research. To obtain that, the non-profit is building the largest online research panel of Oregonians in history to ensure that all voices are represented in discussions of public policy in a valid and statistically reliable way.

Selected panelists earn points for their participation, which can be redeemed for cash or donated to a charity. To learn more, visit oregonvbc.org.