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ENRAGED EMAILER

Oregon Vaccine Committee Closes Meetings to Public After Racist Emails

The volunteer group is tasked with ensuring immunization efforts reach marginalized communities.

2021-02-05T225833Z_2026551608_RC2MML9YKKSX_RTRMADP_3_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-CHILE-VACCINE_t0zqqq

Ivan Alvarado/Reuters

By Blake Montgomery

An Oregon government group that determines vaccine eligibility and prioritization for marginalized communities closed its meetings to the public after members received “multiple hateful, racist emails,” the Oregon Health Authority said late Friday. Several volunteers on the state’s Vaccine Advisory Committee board received the emails in late January, leading them to cut off public access to their livestreamed virtual meetings to prevent any real-time incursions, a blow to transparency. The Health Authority did not release the email’s contents. Racist fears have encircled the coronavirus pandemic since its beginning.

Read it at The Oregonian

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