evidence: An analysis by NPR shows a parallel result: counties that voted for Trump in 2020 had much higher COVID death rates than those that went for Biden. The explanation: low vaccination rates fueled by COVID misinformation. [...] Cases of COVID-19 remain far more common in unvaccinated people, though the difference is narrowing somewhat. The report shows that the rate of COVID-19 in unvaccinated people is 3.5 times higher than in vaccinated people, down from a four-time differnce. To date, there have been 47,687 COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough cases in Oregon out of a total of 399,361.. Where the vaccines really make a difference is in preventing serious COVID cases. Nearly all breakthrough cases show no symptoms, or symptoms that are relatively mild. Once again, just 4.4% of the relatively small number of vaccine breakthrough cases have been hospitalized and just 1.2% have died.