Effort to Prioritize Vaccinations for Oregon's Pacific Islander Seniors Is Underway

Oregon Public Broadcasting reports that a grassroots effort seeks to prioritize immunization against COVID-19 of seniors in Oregon's Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations. The Woven with Elders vaccination toolkit was launched in March by a group of statewide Pacific Islander community organizations through a partnership with Kaiser Permanente. "Our seniors carry our wisdom of our cultural lifeways, pathways, languages, traditions, customs, and practices," said Manumalo Ala'ilima, co-chair of the United Territories of Pacific Islanders Alliance's Portland chapter. "We wanted to shift the mentality and narrative of seniors being expendable. Many politicians last year were willing to sacrifice them instead of honoring them." The toolkit offers language accessibility, with an English version already published and versions in many Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander dialects forthcoming. Ala'ilima said so far the effort has led to the vaccination of nearly 1,000 community seniors in Multnomah, Marion, and Washington counties. "My hope is that my community is taking this opportunity to become vaccinated because it is the right thing to do for themselves and their households," he said.