Detroit Offers 3rd Vaccine Dose; Mayor Duggan Warns of COVID-19 Spread

Mayor Mike Duggan warned Detroit residents Monday to get vaccinated before the city and Michigan begin to resemble a number of southern and Midwest states inundated with COVID-19 infections primarily due to the delta variant.

The city will begin giving third shots Tuesday of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to residents with compromised immune systems, Duggan told reporters. 

“There is an enormous river of COVID transmission among the unvaccinated. Unfortunately, it allows for things like the delta variant. … If this keeps spreading it’s a matter of time before this virus mutates and we’re talking about a different kind of variant.” –Mayor Mike Duggan

The Food and Drug Administration has said 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.

Drive-up vaccinations will resume at TCF Center for people who also have had organ transplants, have diseases affecting their immune system or are taking medication that affect the immune system. Residents will not need to provide a doctor’s note to prove their medical status but will need to call in advance of their appointment for the third shot.

Duggan said Detroit has 30,000 doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines on-hand. The need for third shots is being driven by the numbers of people who have chosen not to get the shots, Duggan said.

“There is an enormous river of COVID transmission among the unvaccinated,” Duggan said. “Unfortunately, it allows for things like the delta variant. And who knows if we get another variant? Because if this keeps spreading it’s a matter of time before this virus mutates and we’re talking about a different kind of variant.”

City of Detroit

About 225,000, or 42%, of Detroit residents have been vaccinated for COVID-19. The city’s vaccine rate is lower than the state average in Michigan, which is nearly 65%. More than 860 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 in the state. Nearly all deaths from the disease are among the unvaccinated. Public health officials and medical professionals agree that the vaccines are safe and effective in preventing severe COVID-19. Duggan hopes that the third dose will stem a possible surge in cooler months. 

The COVID-19 death toll has started soaring again as the delta variant 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.

“The risk level of transmission of COVID-19 according to the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] has increased in the city of Detroit from ‘moderate’ to ‘substantial,’” Fair said. “I imagine by next week, we’ll be to the ‘high’ level of risk.”

Fair says people should wear masks in indoor public spaces with the greater risk of transmission. The first two doses of the free vaccines are widely available throughout the city, at various churches, community centers and pharmacies.

“If we had more people to get the vaccine we would get to community immunity — which is 70% of the community getting the vaccine,” she said.

Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, Detroit has recorded more than 52,800 cases and more than 2,300 deaths.