Health

Updated COVID-19 Vaccines Now Available in Oregon

Since the pandemic, the Oregon Health Authority has broadly recommended annual COVID-19 shots in addition to the standard seasonal flu shot in the lead-up to the fall and winter, when more people tend to get infected by respiratory viruses.

By Andrew Schwartz
COVID-19 vaccine doses in Multnomah County. (Motoya Nakamura)

Oregonians can now get updated 2026-2027 COVID-19 shots at local pharmacies without a prescription, officials announced last week.

Since the pandemic, the Oregon Health Authority has broadly recommended annual COVID-19 shots in addition to the standard seasonal flu shot in the lead-up to the fall and winter, when more people tend to get infected by respiratory viruses.

Confusion reigned in Oregon around this time last year as the state struggled to disentangle itself from federal guidance that had been scrambled by the Trump administration, whose vaccine recommendations diverged in certain cases from those of major U.S. medical associations.

Oregon joined the West Coast Health Alliance, a collection of liberal-leaning Western states that said they would work together to provide reliable health information—largely by deferring to those medical associations.

WCHA continues to recommend flu vaccines to everyone over six months old. It recommends the COVID vaccine broadly as well. (See its specific recommendations here.)

COVID rates in Oregon and across the U.S. are low but increasing, with slightly higher concentration in the West and South, according to federal data. Flu and RSV rates remain “very low.”

Oregon has a relatively high rate of vaccine skepticism, and the proportion of parents who opted their children out of vaccine requirements has increased lately. Last year, 31% of Oregonians got a flu vaccine, according to state data, a slight decline from previous years.

Andrew Schwartz

Andrew Schwartz

Andrew Schwartz writes about health care. He's spent years reporting on political and spiritual movements, most recently covering religion and immigration for the Chattanooga Times Free Press, and before this as a freelancer covering labor and public policy for various magazines. He began his career at the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin.

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