SAGINAW TWP., MI — A drive-thru vaccination event here this week will provide another opportunity for people seeking protection from COVID-19 during the holidays.
Saginaw County Health Department will host the event Thursday, Dec. 2, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the former Sears Automotive facility in the Fashion Square Mall parking lot, at the intersection of Bay and Tittabawassee in Saginaw Township.
Health department officials said two drive-thru vaccination clinics at the site in November attracted high turnouts in the days leading up to Thanksgiving, with many of those in attendance seeking booster shots.
This week’s drive-thru will include first and second shots for the unvaccinated, including the recently-authorized age demographic: 5- to 11-year-old children.
Individuals 18 and older seeking Johnson and Johnson, Moderna or Pfizer vaccine boosters also can receive shots at the event.
The vaccination clinic comes at a time when Michigan again has grown into a COVID-19 hotspot at a national level.
At Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s request, the federal government last week announced plans to send two medical teams to Beaumont Hospital in Dearborn and Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids to relieve doctors and nurses as they treat COVID-19 and other patients.
The spike in cases in November was experienced across the state, including in Saginaw County.
Last week, 126.1 new daily cases of COVID-19 were reported in the county compared to 74.9 new daily cases one month earlier. That number was 3.7 in late June, when Saginaw County hit its lowest point for new cases in 2021. Those figures are based on 7-day averages.
Public health officials said the large majority of new cases involve unvaccinated individuals. Christina Harrington, health officer for Saginaw County Health Department, said 95% of COVID-19-related deaths in Saginaw County from late January to September involved unvaccinated individuals.
RELATED:
95% of COVID-19 deaths in Saginaw County since January involved unvaccinated people
20% of recent Saginaw County COVID-19 cases were kids, and 6 other pandemic facts this week