Detroit offers 3rd vaccine dose, mayor warns of virus spread
August 17, 2021Aug. 16, 2021
Corey Williams
On Tuesday, the city will begin giving third shots of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to residents with compromised immune systems, Duggan told reporters.
The Food and Drug Administration said last week that people with weakened immune systems can get an extra dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines to better protect them as the delta variant continues to surge.
About 225,000, or 42 percent, of Detroit residents have been vaccinated for COVID-19. More than 64 percent of Michigan residents age 16 and older have received at least one vaccine dose.
The COVID-19 death toll has started soaring again as the delta variant of the coronavirus tears through the nation’s unvaccinated population and fills up hospitals with patients, many of whom are younger than patients typically were during earlier phases of the pandemic.
“You can see the direction it is going,” Duggan said. “It is a matter of time until it hits Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin. I don’t know if that’s September, October, November, but if you look at the pattern of what’s happened over and over, there is a good degree of likelihood that Florida’s July could be Michigan’s November.”
Cases in Detroit rose from fewer than 16 per day in late June to 67 on Aug. 2. Detroit also is experiencing an increase in hospitalizations, according to city Chief Public Health Officer Denise Fair.
“If we had more people to get the vaccine we would get to community immunity — which is 70 percent of the community getting the vaccine,” she said.