The Banks Fire District headquarters on August 14, 2021. Photo: Chas Hundley
Washington County’s Mobile Vaccine Team has scheduled several Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine clinics in Banks, the first on Tuesday, August 24 at Jim’s Market (12350 NW Main Street) from 5 to 7 p.m.
A $50 gift card to Jim’s Market, formerly known as Jim’s Thriftway, will be offered to vaccine recipients for their first dose.
According to the city of Banks, another clinic not listed on the county’s mobile vaccine team schedule will be held September 15 at Jim’s, slightly over three weeks from the first clinic held there.
The other clinic scheduled in Banks and another in Timber will return about three weeks after the first clinic to offer the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine, Washington County Public Health spokesperson Mary Sawyers said in an email to the Banks Post.
Those ages 18 and older are eligible for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, while those ages 12 and up can receive the Pfizer vaccine offered at the clinics.
On Friday, August 27, the same day as a clinic in Timber, the county’s mobile team will be offering Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines at the Banks Fire District headquarters (13430 NW Main Street) from 12 to 2 p.m., with a $50 gift card offered as an incentive for those receiving their first dose.
Washington County boasts the fourth-highest rate of people by county who have received at least one dose of a vaccine at 65%, according to the Oregon Health Authority, but most rural western Washington County zip codes lag far behind the eastern, urban half of the county.
Sawyers said that efforts have been made to reach the county’s westernmost communities in the form of canvassers, noting that the county has reached out to the Manning, Buxton, Timber, and Banks areas.
“The canvassers are people on our staff who go out in neighborhoods and make sure people are aware of the mobile events, educate people about vaccinations and answer questions,” Sawyers said.
According to the Oregon Health Authority, Banks’ 97106 zip code, which includes the city and parts of the communities of Hayward, Manning, Buxton, and Mountaindale, has a vaccination rate of 54%. The zip code many Timber residents reside in, 97144, currently has a vaccination rate of 55.6%, meaning more than half of the zip code’s 117 people have received at least one dose of a vaccine as of Wednesday, August 18.
Other rural western Washington County zip codes have significantly lower vaccination rates. Buxton’s 97109 has the second-lowest vaccine rate in the county at 40.3%, barely edged out by the 97125 zip code shared by Manning and Hayward residents at 40.2%. The 97116 zip code, which includes the city of Forest Grove and several rural areas made up of Gales Creek, Verboort, Timber, and Glenwood areas, has a vaccination rate of 62.5%. Gaston, Laurelwood, and Cherry Grove’s 97119 clock in at 53.9%. Gales Creek’s 97117 zip code has a vaccination rate of 46%.
More information on vaccines in Washington County can be found on the Washington County Health and Human Services website.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Banks Post and sister news publications the Gales Creek Journal and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
