(PORTLAND, Ore.) After the Oregon Health Authority distributed $100 gift cards at mass vaccination sites to incentivize people to get vaccinated, Portland sites saw an uptick in people coming to receive their first COVID-19 shot over the weekend, KGW reports.
Workers at the Portland International Airport, Hillsboro Stadium and Oregon Convention Center sites all reported an increase in people coming to get vaccinated from June 12-13.
“While we weren’t really sure whether they would make much of a difference, we were a bit surprised,” All4Oregon spokesperson Brian Terrett said. “I would say we probably did three times as many Johnson and Johnson vaccines on Saturday than we had anticipated.”
Throughout the law few weeks, the convention center has administered 60-90 Johnson and Johnson vaccines per day, as well as many second doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
On Saturday, the day after the $100 gift cards were announced, the number of Johnson and Johnson vaccines administered increased to 340.
During the height of vaccinations, the convention center was vaccinating 8,000 people a day. Since then, there’s been a significant drop in demand for vaccines. The airport and convention center sites are both closing June 19, and Hillsboro Stadium is closing June 25.
Oregon still needs 76,089 people to get vaccinated in order to meet the state’s 70% vaccination benchmark to reopen, as of Saturday.
Unless more people get vaccinated, Oregonians will likely be living with current COVID-19 restrictions into July.