DETROIT (WWJ) -- Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is taking the city’s fight against COVID-19 to the next level, announcing Monday that appointments will not be required at 11 vaccination clinics across the city.
Four such vaccination sites will be available beginning Tuesday at 9 a.m. for adults 16 years of age and older. Those four sites will be at the TCF Center downtown, the Farwell Rec Center (2711 Outer Drive), the Northwest Activities Center (18100 Meyers Road) and the Samaritan Center 5555 Conner Street).
Duggan, on the heels of urging Detroiters to get the vaccine last week in the midst of surging infection and hospitalization rates, says he wants to make Detroit the easiest city in the country to get vaccinated.
“Every single person who wants the vaccine has access. We are going to be the city that has the most open access of any place in America. That’s our goal and I’m going to make sure the sites are available so if you want the vaccine, it’s as easy as possible to get,” Duggan said at a news conference Monday.
The announcement comes against the backdrop of a large number of young Detroiters who have not yet been vaccinated. Numbers show more than half of those over 65 years old in Detroit have received the vaccine, only 26 percent of those between the ages of 30 and 64 years old have gotten a vaccine. Roughly 10 percent of those between 16 and 29 years old have been vaccinated.
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Duggan says while efforts to schedule vaccine appointments for older Detroiters, they have not seen the same response amongst younger people, so it’s time to try a new approach.
“We have to shift our strategy. The process of calling up, making an appointment and coming in, our seniors bought into that. TCF was jammed, and it went phenomenally. As we’ve gone to the younger group, the desire to make an appointment and drive into TCF has not been the same,” Duggan said.
So anyone over the age of 16 will now be able to get a vaccine at a walk-up clinic, or schedule an appointment at various clinics throughout the city. More information about where to get the vaccine in Detroit can be found on the city’s website, including a list of vaccination sites.
Monday’s news comes as state health officials announced 8,574 new COVID-19 cases and 61 deaths on Monday. The state’s total number of cases sits just shy of 800,000, while the death toll approaches 17,000 since the beginning of the pandemic last spring.