Shane Cunningham plays tennis for Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario.

Shane Cunningham pondered the COVID-19 vaccines long before he was eligible to get one.

Shane, 19, who lives near Baker City, decided not to be inoculated.

He said he was persuaded in part by statistics showing that a large majority of people who have either died or become severely ill after being infected with the virus are older than 60.

According to the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), of almost 11,000 people who have been hospitalized for treatment of COVID-19 in the state during the pandemic, 196 — 1.8% — were between 10 and 19 years old.

Only one person in that age range has died after contracting COVID-19, out of 2,624 deaths statewide as of Tuesday, May 25, according to the OHA.

“The risk with COVID-19 is very negligible for me,” Shane said. “I’m in a very low-risk age group.”

Shane, who was homeschooled and earned an associate’s degree in 2020 through the Baker Web Academy, is taking online classes at Treasure Valley Community College.

He said he considered other factors in making his decision about being vaccinated.

Shane said his family has a history of medical conditions that can affect the immune system, including his dad, Matt, who has multiple sclerosis.

(Matt’s wife and Shane’s mother, Elsa Cunningham, said Matt was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis after he received a Tdap vaccine, which includes the tetanus vaccine, in 2015 because he was concerned about tetanus following an accident with a drill when a metal screw entered his hand.)

Shane said he wondered whether he might also be susceptible to autoimmune conditions that could make it more likely that he would suffer significant side effects from a COVID-19 vaccine.

He said he wasn’t satisfied with the clinical trials that Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson conducted prior to receiving emergency use authorization for their vaccines from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Shane said he isn’t opposed to vaccinations in general.

He said he was inoculated against formerly common childhood diseases such as measles and chickenpox.

“Vaccinations have made an incredible difference across history,” Shane said.

But after weighing the benefits and the potential risks, he said he concluded that it made little sense for him to be vaccinated against COVID-19 now.

He said he also preferred not to take doses of the vaccine when other people, because of their age or underlying medical condition, are at much higher risk from the virus and would naturally want to be protected by a vaccine.

Shane said he understands the argument that even people who have a low risk of becoming seriously ill if they’re infected with COVID-19 should be vaccinated so as to reduce the chance that they might spread the virus.

He said people who are at higher risk have the option of being vaccinated — his grandparents, for instance, have been inoculated.

He believes government agencies have done an “exceptional job of making the vaccine available.”

Shane said that if he felt ill, or tested positive for COVID-19, he would isolate himself to ensure he didn’t infect anyone.

“That’s just common courtesy with any illness,” he said.

Shane said he has been tested for COVID-19 multiple times, all of those being negative, before going on trips as a freshman tennis player for Treasure Valley Community College.

He said he’s never had any symptoms consistent with COVID-19 infection.

Shane said that although he knows that vaccination is a contentious societal issue — particularly on social media, he said — he has had a much different experience in discussing the topic with classmates, teammates and others in his peer group.

“Some have opted for the vaccine, and some haven’t,” he said. “Everybody has different reasons, but it’s all been very civil and respectful whatever the decision. It’s nice to see that.”

Shane said he believes that fundamentally this is a matter of individuals making a personal decision about health care.

He believes government officials are trying too hard to influence that decision by not only encouraging people to be vaccinated, regardless of their risk level, but also offering incentives such as lottery jackpots.

“I have an issue not with the vaccine itself but with the way it’s being pushed,” Shane said.

He contends that government officials should simply make the relevant statistics available, both about the pandemic and the vaccine, and not try to persuade people about what they should or shouldn’t do.

Shane said he has talked at length with his parents about COVID-19 and the vaccine.

“It’s definitely a topic of conversation in our household, the pandemic in general,” he said.

He said his parents haven’t pressured him in either direction regarding vaccination.

Shane said that although he has decided for now that he won’t be inoculated, he will continue to follow evidence in the months ahead.

If new variants of the virus emerge, or he becomes at higher risk, he said he might reconsider his choice.