Residents can now reserve place in line for virus vaccine appointment
Save Your Spot to help gauge overall demand
Oakland County residents included in Phase 1C of the state’s COVID-19 vaccination plan cannot yet make an ap- pointment due to limited sup- ply, but can now reserve a spot in line when the vaccine be- comes more widely available.
Beginning Monday, state health officials moved into the next phase of vaccination, Phase 1C, to include residents 65 years of age and over, preK12 teachers and staff, child care workers, and other frontline workers. Appointments are being limited to vaccine supply county-by-county.
County residents included
in this next phase can visit www.oaklandcountyvaccine.com to reserve a spot in line for when the county receives enough vaccine doses to begin making appointments. Countywide, there are over 217,000 residents age 65 and older that would be eligible to receive the vaccine in Phase 1C of vaccination.
As of Wednesday, the county had received 7,800 doses of the vaccine with 17,221 first- and second-dose vaccine appointments for people in Phase 1A and Phase 1B scheduled through Feb. 28. The county received another 1,950 doses this week.
The Save Your Spot link will
help county public health officials identify individuals who are eligible to receive the vaccine in Phase 1C and to gauge overall demand for the vaccine countywide. For anyone unable to complete the form, residents can call the health hotline at (800)848-5533.
Oakland County Executive David Coulter said the form will help the county plan for administering future doses of vaccine once received.
“This will help us reach residents and workers who are eligible for vaccination when more doses become available,” he said. “As we receive more vaccine, we will continue to administer them quickly and efficiently until everyone has the opportunity to receive the vaccine.”
The Oakland County Board of Commissioners have introduced a resolution calling on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to increase local vaccine supply to meet the increased demand.
“I am very frustrated, Oakland County is not receiving enough of the vaccines to even come close to meeting today’s demand,” said Commissioner Michael Spisz (R-Oxford). “A lot of people worked very hard to be prepared to meet the needs of our 1.2 million residents. We can only operate at about 15 percent of our capacity, so I ask leaders at all levels, help us help others, so we can be successful.”
Statewide, around 831,000 vaccine doses have been received with nearly 300,000 doses administered across Michigan. More providers are coming online weekly to administer the incoming vaccine doses, according to Tricia Foster, the state’s chief operating officer overseeing vaccine distribution, who added that the state’s goal is to administer 50,000 doses per day.
“It looks like we’re going to be coming into more vaccine soon,” said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday who has requested that the federal government allow the state to purchase 100,000 doses directly from Pfizer.
Whitmer added that the state continues to push out the vaccine doses to local providers as soon as its received by the state. Providers have been slower to administer the vaccine, but the pace of rollout is expected to pick up as more vaccine is received.
On Tuesday, the federal government announced that it would no longer hold back reserve vaccine doses and will be pushing out millions more doses of vaccine daily to states. This comes as the CDC issued new guidelines to expand vaccine eligibility to the nation’s most vulnerable, including those 65 years of age and over as well as those with comorbid conditions, like diabetes and heart disease.
In addition, the federal government also announced new vaccine distribution plans to states that would include allocating doses to states based on their 65-and-older population and pace of their vaccinations, rather than on a per capita basis. This would take effect in two weeks, according to outgoing U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar.
The state has a website setup, https:// www.michigan.gov/ coronavirus/0,9753,7406-98178_103214_ 104822—-,00.html, that shows which county health departments are currently ready to make vaccine appointments. The website will be updated daily.
Local health systems are also beginning to schedule appointments for those eligible in Phase 1C including: Beaumont Health, St. Joseph Mercy Oakland, Ascension Providence, McLaren Oakland, and the Henry Ford Health System.
To receive future updates on COVID-19 vaccine availability, county residents can register their email address at oaklandcountyvaccine.com or by texting OAKGOV to 28748. The Nurse on Call is available at (800)-848-5533 to answer health-related questions, make COVID-19 testing appointments, and assist those unable to complete the ‘Save Your Spot’ link.