Alik

LA GRANDE — The COVID-19 vaccination rate among Union County residents who are from the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific is experiencing an uptick.

More than 40 people from the Marshall Islands in Union County have received COVID-19 vaccination shots since November, according to Lowell Alik of Salem, chair of the board of Marshallese American Network for Interacting Together, an Oregon organization.

Alik credits the rising rate to a vaccination drive targeting Marshall Islanders in Union County. It started on Saturday, Nov. 13, with a clinic in La Grande and will continue with additional clinics, including one being planned for this winter. A clinic had been scheduled for Dec. 11 in La Grande but it was canceled due to poor driving conditions that prevented Alik and others from the Marshall American Network for Interacting Together in the Willamette Valley from making the trip to La Grande.

Alik said a make-up clinic will be conducted in January or February in La Grande if weather conditions for driving allow. At that clinic first, second and third doses of the COVID-19 vaccine will be given, plus booster shots, just as they were at the November clinic.

La Grande is one of about six cities in Oregon where MANIT is conducting COVID-19 clinics targeting the Marshallese. The others are in Salem, Tigard, Corvallis, Eugene and Southern Oregon, all locations that have concentrations of people from the Marshall Islands.

Alik said it is not known how many many people from the Marshall Islands are in La Grande but the number is significant.

“La Grande is an important place to us,” he said.

Alik said he hopes to later to conduct a Marshallese population survey in the La Grande area.

Population data from Portland State University’s census center indicates that as of 2018 2.5% of La Grande’s population of about 13,000 was composed of Pacific Islanders. Most of this group of 350 are believed to be from the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.

Alik said providing vaccination clinics for the Marshallese is critical because of a language barrier. The native language of those from the Marshall Islands is Marshallese, which is spoken by few in the United States.

“They have hesitancy to come to clinics,” he said. “They do not understand what people are saying. They feel more comfortable coming to clinics where their language and culture is understood.”