During her COVID-19 status report to Wasco County Commissioners on Wednesday, North Central Public Health District Health Officer Dr. Mimi McDonell answered a question about the ability of vaccines to deal with variants of the virus by noting while it is a concern, the vaccines can be adapted.  McDonell says current information shows the vaccines are effective against the variants that have appeared in this country to this point, and vaccine manufacturers continue their studies.  She said these types of vaccines can be changed if the spike protein develops over the course of multiple mutations.  McDonell also said that she gets asked which vaccine a person should get, and she told Commissioners the answer is “whatever is available to you.”  She presented statistics to the Commission showing there have been only ten COVID-19 cases reported in Wasco County for the last two weeks, with a positive testing rate of only 1.1%.