COMMENTARY

Mayor Mike Duggan pens oped to Detroiters after Johnson & Johnson vaccine change | Opinion

Mike Duggan
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan talks with the media in the underground parking lot at the TCF Center in Detroit where the first shots of the Covid-19 vaccine were being given out to people 75 and older behind him on Wednesday, January 13, 2021 
Up to 400 vaccines were being distributed in a quick and efficient drive up system. As the days go on more vaccines will be given out.

Recent comments I made about the relative efficacy of the three available COVID-19 vaccines unintentionally sparked an important national debate over whether states, cities or individuals should opt for one vaccine over the other. 

The clear answer, fully supported by the science, is that you should take the first vaccine that is available to you. That’s because each one is safe and will protect you and those around you.  

No one is more aware of the need to be vaccinated to protect each other than the people of Detroit. Our city was among the hardest-hit early in the pandemic. Between March and May we lost more than 1,200 of our neighbors. 

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I am extremely proud of how the people of Detroit responded to the pandemic by wearing masks and socially distancing. To support their commitment to safety, we established one of the nation’s first, largest, most accessible and most well-run mass testing sites, even offering $2 rides to anyone without their own transportation. We were the first anywhere to deploy the Abbott 15-minute test just days after FDA approval, to get hundreds of quarantined police officers back on the street. Soon after, we were the first city to do universal rapid testing at all nursing homes, which had become a terrible source of spread and deaths. These strategies helped us to flatten the curve as quickly as any city in the country, keep it flat and save countless lives.  

Similarly, we have established a vaccination strategy that allows any Detroiter in every eligible group to call a single phone number to schedule an appointment within a few days. No Internet connection is needed. As part of our strategy to vaccinate our most vulnerable populations first, we’ve gone to every homeless shelter and are visiting every senior citizen apartment building, as well as hosting Senior Saturday events at churches across the city where this past weekend, more than 2,400 seniors received their first dose in a place of comfort and familiarity. 

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Up to now, we have been receiving and distributing only Moderna and Pfizer because those had been the only ones available. Now we have a third highly effective vaccine in Johnson & Johnson.  

What is not in dispute is that all three vaccines — Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson — are extremely effective in preventing hospitalizations and deaths. In fact, even though its trials had to contend with emerging variants that the Moderna and Pfizer trials did not, Johnson & Johnson was still completely effective in preventing hospitalizations and death. It’s worth noting that all three COVID vaccines have a higher efficacy rate than standard flu vaccines, which prevent illness in about 50% of those who receive it. 

Despite Detroit’s aggressive vaccine rollout — more than 100,000 doses have been administered, and we have 29,000 first and second doses scheduled this week alone — barely more than 11% of our residents have been vaccinated. Far more vaccines are needed, and the Biden administration is doing a great job opening up more supply. When the City of Detroit receives its first shipment of Johnson & Johnson doses, expected around March 22, we will have more capacity to reach more of our residents and a plan in place to accomplish that.  

I hope that every American makes it their urgent priority to be vaccinated. They can be confident that whichever vaccine they receive will effectively protect them and their loved ones. The more of us that get vaccinated — and the more quickly — the sooner we can all see our friends and families in person again, reestablish our bonds and get our country back to normal. 

Mike Duggan is the mayor of Detroit.