This story was produced by the Oregon Journalism Project, a nonprofit newsroom covering the state.

Oregon’s flu season is closing in on its brutal end, which left many family members dodging each other at holiday gatherings to stay safe.

Nationally, less of the population is getting flu vaccinations, and Oregon followed that trend. This season, only 30.7% of Oregonians got the flu vaccine, 10,000 fewer than last year—a rate about one-third lower than the national average.

The low rate is unsurprising. Oregon has one of the lowest rates for childhood vaccinations in the nation, for example, with nearly 1 in 10 kindergarten students opted out by their parents, according to the Oregon Health Authority.

An OJP analysis shows Multnomah and Washington counties had the highest flu vaccination rates in the state, each around 35%. Counties in Southeast Oregon—Grant and Malheur—had the lowest, at 16% and 17.4%, respectively. So far this season, all of Oregon’s 36 counties but Deschutes and Umatilla showed a drop in vaccination rates compared with last year’s complete flu season. Tillamook had the largest decrease: 4 percentage points, down to 24%.

Tillamook public health officials are concerned, but not surprised that the county mirrors the national drop in flu vaccination rates, says Camille Sorensen, the county’s public health communications manager. The county tried to protect more residents this season, she says, by hosting several low-barrier vaccination events.

Sorensen pointed to two reasons for the drop in her county, ones that likely played a role across the state:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement action around the state may have scared off some groups of people from attending vaccination events or clinics.

Second, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, under the leadership of vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has promulgated inaccurate and inconsistent information about the safety of vaccines.

“There’s a lot of confusion…regarding vaccination efficacy or other concerns about potential side effects,” Sorensen says.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the vaccine rate for this season was 22% to 34% effective in preventing doctor’s visits for adults and 30% effective in preventing hospitalizations. While the vaccine wasn’t as effective as in previous years, it remains the best way to avoid getting severely sick or hospitalized, according to OHA.

This season, the flu caused the deaths of about 10,000 people nationwide, mostly elderly, but also more than 44 children, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. The association said it was the worst outbreak in nearly two decades.

In Oregon’s TriMet region (Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties), there have been 934 hospitalizations for the flu so far this year. Last year at this time, there were 1,634, or 75% more, likely because last year’s bug was more severe.

Flu shots are easier to access than many other vaccines. Most people with health insurance can walk into any drug store and get immunized. Oregonians without insurance can get a flu shot at community clinics or through their public health department.

>>> To learn more about finding a vaccine clinic near you, visit the Oregon Health Authority’s “Getting Vaccines in Oregon” webpage,

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OREGON, Wis. (WMTV) – Police in Oregon arrested a 57-year-old man Friday after investigators said he communicated online with someone he believed was a 13-year-old child.

The Oregon Police Department said the investigation began March 12 after officers received a report about a concerning video posted online.

Detectives later identified a Village of Oregon resident who had been communicating with an individual he believed to be a 13-year-old. Police did not release the suspect’s name.

Detectives took the suspect into custody Friday and booked him into the Dane County Jail on one count of use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, police said.

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Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read will not have to accept arguments on the gas tax referendum that were not submitted by the state’s March 12 deadline, a federal judge decided.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon’s March 20 ruling is a second blow to the referendum’s chief petitioners: Senate Minority Leader Bruce Starr, R-Dundee, gubernatorial candidate Rep. Ed Diehl, R-Scio, and Jason Williams, founder of the Taxpayers Association of Oregon, whose attempt to keep the vote in November was shot down in Marion County District Court.

The litigation by supporters of the gas tax referendum began after Democratic lawmakers passed, and Gov. Tina Kotek signed, Senate Bill 1599 to move the vote on the gas tax and other transportation costs from the November election to May.

Submitting arguments for the voters’ pamphlet required paying $1,200 or the collection of 500 signatures.

The gas tax referendum leaders’ federal suit, joined by four individuals and unidentified people whose signature submissions were not accepted for the ballot, argued Read violated the First and 14th amendments of the U.S. Constitution and the Americans with Disabilities Act by enforcing the deadline for voters’ pamphlet submissions.

The lawsuit mirrors another suit Simon heard March 11. In those arguments, ahead of the deadline, Simon found there was a potential ADA problem because someone without disabilities would have two pathways to submit signatures, where someone who could not physically collect signatures would only have one.