'I wish I had a concrete answer.' Oregon confronts perplexing vaccine hesitancy as Covid-19 cases rise

This mountainous frontier city on the Columbia River plateau romanticizes the pioneer personality of the Old West and celebrates its rugged past with one of the world's oldest rodeos.

In rural Umatilla County, where Pendleton is located, locals take pride in the region's deep sense of freedom, toughness and self-reliance.

It's not entirely surprising then that residents are avoiding vaccination sites in droves, even as Oregon leads the nation in the rate of Covid-19 cases over the last two weeks and this remote northeastern county ranks at the bottom in...