December 22, 2021 3:35 a.m.

Federal COVID-19 vaccination data has been released and has finally been added to the Oregon ALERT IIS vaccine tracking system.

A Douglas County COVID-19 Update said it now validates the concern that Douglas County Public Health officials have had since the beginning of the pandemic, that there was a discrepancy between the vaccination data reported from the Oregon Health Authority and the numbers reported by the U.S. Center for Disease Control.

The latest Oregon ALERT IIS chart now shows that Douglas County actually had 14,642 uncounted federal doses, more than had been locally predicted and about as many as all of the other Oregon counties combined.

The Update said adding those federal doses accurately increases the single dose vaccination rate in Douglas County to 72.5 percent of all residents 18 years of age and older. This new data puts the county ahead of all its neighboring counties to the south and east, and also takes Douglas County out of the ranks of one of the lowest counties vaccinated in Oregon. While it moves the county up in the ranks, there is still a little way to go, to reach the 80 percent vaccination goal.

A chart explaining the new data is linked with this story at www.541radio.com.