Waterford Today

Oakland County issued the following announcement on Dec. 17.

Friday, December 17 will mark one year since Oakland County Health Division received its first doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Public health staff began administering them the next day and continued uninterrupted for the past year, implementing a vaccine plan that the county had developed well before the vaccines arrived. Since then, more than 874,000 Oakland County residents 5 years and older have received at least their first dose, 105,000 of whom county public health employees immunized.

“The Oakland County Health Division has done phenomenal work in getting vaccine doses to residents, working tirelessly at clinics in every corner of the county for the past year,” said Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter. “And county residents deserve a lot of credit and praise too, for taking the essential step to keep themselves, their families and their communities safer from COVID.”

Here’s the breakdown, according to the Michigan COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard. More than 200,000 Oakland County seniors ages 65 years and older, or nine out of 10, have received at least their first dose. Almost 845,000, or more than three-quarters of residents ages 12 and up, have received at least their first dose. Finally, more than 29,000, or greater than one in four residents ages 5-11, have received at least their first dose.

Public health nurses and staff along with healthcare providers, hospitals, and pharmacies have administered more than 1.6 million primary series doses of COVID-19 vaccine in Oakland County in the past year and 283,000-plus third or booster doses since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention authorized them.

Of the nearly 1.9 million total doses, Oakland County Health Division has given more than 200,000 of them at 1,054 events and 183 locations throughout the county including fire stations, community centers, faith-based organizations, shopping centers, parks, event centers, and schools. The Health Division selected sites by reviewing data to identify communities with low vaccine rates and reduced transportation access.

There are about 316,000 Oakland County residents ages 5 years old and up who remain unvaccinated. Oakland County Health Division continues to offer pediatric, first, second, third, and booster doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Appointments remain available and strongly encouraged at www.OaklandCountyVaccine.com or by contacting the Nurse on Call at 800-848-5533.

Meanwhile, there were more than 11,800 new confirmed and probable cases from November 29 – December 12, 54 percent of whom were ages 39 years old and younger. The seven-day case average was 716 new cases per day in Oakland County as of December 12. The seven-day percent positivity for COVID-19 tests dropped to 15.38 percent from 16.60 percent the week before.

Most new cases in Michigan continue to be among individuals who are not fully vaccinated. They comprised 85.1 percent of cases, 88.1 percent of hospitalizations, and 85.8 percent of deaths from Jan. 15-Dec. 4, according to the MI COVID Response Data and Modeling Update.

Original source can be found here.