VACCINE EFFORT GAINS STRENGTH
Distribution ramps up; Macomb County adds second drive-thru location
The Macomb County Health Department has added its second drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination location and its sixth site overall with Tuesday’s announcement of a second location in Warren.
The Warren City Garage will start operating April 8 as a second drive-thru location, following the successful opening of the Richmond-Lenox EMS drive-thru site in Richmond Township.
The Warren City Garage location joins the Chesterfield Township Senior Center, which opened Monday, the Southwest Health Center in the Majestic Plaza, on Van Dyke in Warren which opened March 26, the Verkuilen Building in Clinton Township and the Sterling Heights Senior Center as the other Macomb County vaccination locations.
The Warren City Garage is located at 1 City Square in Warren.
“We got lots of good feedback regarding the drivethru location in Richmond,” Macomb County Health Department Director/Health Officer Andrew Cox said. “This will be the first drivethru location in the south end. We’re very excited about opening up this new location.”
As a drive-thru location, the Warren City Garage site will usher recipients driving their cars through the garage and into their assigned stations. There recipients will be administered the vaccine while still in their vehicles.
Cox said they will then be asked to pull forward into an assigned parking spot where they can be observed for 15-30 minutes for any adverse effects of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Recipients are observed for any signs of allergic or anaphylactic reactions. Cox said most people are observed for closer to 15 minutes.
He expects up to 2,000 doses per week to be administered through the Warren City Garage site. He said the site will probably start out slower and work up to that number. Drive-thru vaccination sites are expected to be
As with all of the Macomb County locations, appointments are required. Interested parties are asked to go to macombgov. org/covid vaccine
able to vaccinate more people per hour than walk-in locations.
With so many sites now available, Cox said recipients will be encouraged to return to the same location. But if for some reason they can’t return to the first location, the county will work with that person to have the second shot administered at a different location.
As with all of the Macomb County locations, appointments are required. Interested parties are asked to go to macombgov.org/covidvaccine to get an appointment. “We appreciate everyone being
patient,” Cox said. “Please be safe and continue to practice the safeguards that work, especially with the number of cases going up.”
A third drive-thru location will be added today, as the previously announced Lakeside Mall location in Sterling Heights will open at noon. The former Sears automotive center has been retrofitted into a vaccination center. It will allow for vaccines to be delivered while recipients remain in their car to complete required paperwork as well as wait during the required observation time following their vaccination.