West Michigan health departments, hospitals team up on new vaccine website
Consortium wants to encourage people to get COVID-19 vaccine
file photo
By: Zac Harmon
and last updated 2020-12-15 15:33:59-05
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. â Dozens of area health departments, hospitals, colleges, and community organizations teamed up to create a new resource for information on COVID-19 vaccines.
The result is the Vaccinate West Michigan website. The consortium behind it says the site will be the go-to for reliable information on vaccine availability, distribution plans, and safety of the vaccine.
âThe COVID-19 vaccine is safe, highly effective and will be our best defense against the virus,â said Dr. Adam London, director of the Kent County Health Department. âBut it wonât be available to everyone immediately. Itâs critical for the residents of West Michigan to have access to accurate, timely and consistent information about the vaccine so we can
Gratiot hits 50-COVID deaths, 18 die across mid-Michigan themorningsun.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from themorningsun.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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In this photo provided by his employer, Bruce Smith, a FedEx package handler, works in a facility at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Cascade Township, Michigan, on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020. FedEx is one of the companies helping transport a vaccine made by Pfizer. Helping with the transport of the vaccine has special meaning to Smith, whose older sister died in Georgia after she contracted the coronavirus in May. I think she would be ecstatic to know that something that has ravaged our family â that a family member is going to be part of such a big project, said Smith, 58, whose nephew also got sick and is still recovering. (Courtesy of FedEx via AP)
Sixteen people from Isabella, Gratiot and Clare counties were among the 29 who died from COVID-19 from Dec. 4 to Monday. Four of Isabella County s seven deaths were from two nursing home outbreaks.
Three of those were from one facility, Medilodge of Mt. Pleasant, 1524 Portobello Dr. In all, 61 residents and approximately 20 staff have contracted the disease.
The deaths all involving elderly people including two women, one who died on Dec. 4 and one on Dec. 8, and a man who died Dec. 9, said Steve Hall, health officer for Central Michigan District Health Department. It brings the total number of Medilodge deaths to five, including a woman who was Isabella County s second COVID-19 death in early April.
Three local men are recipients of this yearâs CAG Hall of Fame Awards.
Bernie Bessert, Norm Keon and Ed Lorenz were voted into the Hall of Fame by the members of the Pine River Superfund Citizen Task Force, an EPA recognized Community Advisory Group (CAG). All three were involved with the formation of the CAG at its beginning in December, 1997. In previous years, the award ceremony took place at the annual Christmas Potluck, but with Covid 19 restrictions in place, the plaques were presented separately.
Bernie Bessert. Photo provided by Pine River Superfund Citizen Task Force.
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Bessert, a resident of St. Louis, was an employee of Farm Bureau Services during the PBB crisis of the 1970s.