Mar 12, 2021
As Michigan continues to receive more doses of COVID-19 vaccines, health departments are perfecting the rollout process and establishing routines.
Mid-Michigan District Health Department Health Officer Marcus Cheatham says they are getting into the groove and are doing more work than they ever thought they would be doing.
Cheatham says once the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is readily available they will be able to vaccinate more people in less time.
Ottawa County is focusing on outreach to individuals that are eligible for the vaccine.
The health department says they are keeping a waiting list of those who have not yet been able to find an appointment as a way to make appointments last-minute if extra doses are available.
CADILLAC â More people than ever are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in local counties.
District Health Department No. 10 recently announced that people age 50 and up would be able to get the vaccine in a special clinic this Friday.
But the priority still remains getting to the most vulnerable first.
DHD No. 10 provided an explainer on this week s vaccine clinics, noting that schedulers reach out to the waiting list as soon as the department learns how many vaccines they ll get the next week. Healthcare workers and people 65+ are contacted first (through phone, email or text message). If the department can t reach them, schedulers move farther down the priority list.
9 & 10 News
March 1, 2021
The Food and Drug Administration and the Center for Disease Control approved the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine over the weekend and already doses are on their way across the country for administration.
This now gives Americans three options for a vaccine, joining Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that have been in use for months.
“Johnson & Johnson seems to have less significant side effects,” says Dr. Jennifer Morse, health director for the District Health Department #10, Central Michigan District Health Department and the Mid-Michigan District Health Department.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has some major advantages to its predecessors including being just one dose, compared to two, and being able to be stored at standard refrigerator temperatures.
CADILLAC â It s a simple statistical fact that if you re disadvantaged, you re more likely to catch and spread COVID-19.
So says Harald Schmidt, a professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania who has written about the use of disadvantage indexes to allocate vaccine disbursement. Everybody has to understand that it s not about me. It s about all of us as we discuss who gets vaccines first, Schmidt said. All of us gain if we make sure that the people who are most at risk get it before the people who are less at risk within each phase.