C. Oregon school districts provide update on employee vaccination counts as state deadline nears
(Update: New Redmond schools numbers)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Central Oregon school districts and health care facilities have been tracking vaccination rates among its employees as next Monday's deadline approaches for Gov. Kate Brown's COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The state mandate has led to speculation about whether it would seriously harm staffing levels in these crucial businesses.
The mandate requires all school staff and health care workers to be vaccinated or be granted a religious or medical vaccine exception by their employers.
With the mandate taking effect in the next few days, local school districts have provided NewsChannel 21 with the latest information on employee vaccination rates.
As of now, 91.2% of Bend-La Pine Schools' roughly 2,000 staff members have submitted proof of vaccination, the school district said Wednesday. Another 8.4% submitted a religious exception form and .04% of employees have submitted a medical exception form.
As of Thursday morning, Redmond schools reported all but 14 of their 940 staff, or about 1.5% have either provided proof of vaccination or received a religious or medical exception.
Of those who have complied, 72% are fully vaccinated and 18% have received a medical or religious exemption, district spokeswoman Sheila Miller said.
Staffing impacts were anticipated to occur to both school and health care industries, but Bend-La Pine Schools told NewsChannel 21,“With more than 96% of our staff members having already submitted required vaccine documentation, we do not anticipate widespread staffing impacts.”
The Oregon Health Authority has a dashboard that breaks down the percentage of vaccinations of the health care workforce population for each Oregon county. It currently shows Deschutes County state licensed health care workers have a vaccination rate of 82%, as of Oct 4.
With neither industry being at 100% in vaccination rate, staffing impacts may still occur when Monday's deadline arrives.
