Hi there,
This week we received our largest vaccine shipment to date. The state’s COVID-19 vaccine dashboard reports 232,625 doses have been given to Oakland County residents including 41,323 doses administered by Oakland County Health Division.
A significant portion of this week’s supply is allowing us to hold multiple large vaccination sites to give many second doses while also offering new appointments for first doses.
The Health Division ensures everyone we vaccinate will receive their second dose in an acceptable timeframe. One way we do this is requiring individuals to schedule and commit to attending both vaccination appointments when they book their first appointment. This allows us to accurately order vaccine supplies and schedule you at a location that will have the vaccine type (Pfizer or Moderna) you need.
Please take a few minutes and watch our weekly Vaccine Update video for more information about how Oakland County is progressing with our vaccination efforts.
We are happy to continue to vaccinate so many of you each week. If you haven’t received an appointment invitation yet, rest assured we are working as hard as we can to reach you as soon as possible.
In good health,
Leigh-Anne Stafford, Oakland County Health Officer
How vaccine eligibility groups are determined
While vaccine supplies remain low, Oakland County Health Division is following the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) vaccination phases and priority groups that target populations by risk. This guidance may change as information evolves and more vaccine types become available.
Essential workers are a key vaccination priority for the county. They keep our systems critical to public welfare and safety functioning. Many of these workers, regardless of age, have jobs that require significant person-to-person interactions and high levels of exposure, which increase their risk. In addition, the greatest number of severe COVID cases and deaths occur in individuals over the age of 64 years of age.
We are hopeful to offer vaccination to all individuals age 16 or older by late spring.
Vaccination of one eligible priority group may not be complete before vaccination of another group begins. Vaccination of groups has overlapped and likely will continue to do so.
Currently Vaccinating
- Health care workers
- Emergency medical service workers
- Long-term care, assisted living/skilled nursing facility staff, and residents
- Individuals 65 years and older
- Frontline first responders
- School and childcare staff
- Corrections staff
- Frontline workers in critical infrastructure (food service & agriculture, utilities, transportation, grocery store workers)
Vaccinating Next
- Individuals 16 years of age or older at high risk of severe illness due to COVID-19 infection
- All remaining essential workers
- Everyone else who has not been vaccinated (ages 16 and up)
Continue mask wearing after vaccination
Even if you have been vaccinated continue wearing masks as much is still unknown about transmission to others by vaccinated people.
Wear masks properly over your mouth and nose every time you will be around someone outside of your household. Masks, social distancing and washing hands are still very important in slowing the spread of COVID-19.
Follow these tips when wearing a mask:
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Make sure your mask fits snugly against your face.Gaps can let air with respiratory droplets leak in and out around the edges of the mask.
- Pick a mask with layers to keep your respiratory droplets in and others’ out.
Visit MDHHS for guidelines about choosing the most effective face mask.
Save Your Spot updates
- Have you been vaccinated by another provider and would like to remove your spot in Oakland County’s COVID-19 vaccine line? You can now take yourself off of Oakland County’s Save Your Spot list by completing this form. If you have been vaccinated by Oakland County Health Division, you do not need to remove yourself, that will occur automatically.
- Appointment invitations currently come from the email: health@oakgov.com. It appears like: From: Save Your Spot <health@oakgov.com>. Please check your “spam/junk” or “promotions” folder to look for messages that your email filter has incorrectly marked as spam.
OaklandCountyVaccine.com is the best place to receive the latest information.
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