Four counties in Michigan’s eastern Upper Peninsula have a COVID-19 vaccination rate more than twice as high as the state average.
More than 30% of the adult population is vaccinated against COVID-19 in the LMAS District Health Department, which covers Luce, Mackinac, Alger and Schoolcraft counties.
Kerry Ott is the spokesperson for the LMAS health department -- though usually, when there’s not a pandemic, she’s spends most of her time running the district’s Healthy Families program.
Ott said the key to their high vaccination rate is a combination of a small population, and decades-long partnerships with community organizations.
“Our staff is so small that we couldn’t possibly do all of this alone,” she said. “It’s still a big lift, but it’s a manageable lift with the coordination with our hospitals and other community partners.”
The health district’s overall vaccination rate has been buoyed by what Ott called a “hugely successful” effort to vaccinate people on the islands in the Straits of Mackinac.
On Mackinac Island, the effort comes with a particular urgency: Tourist season is approaching.
Mackinac County’s entire population -- the islands plus the mainland -- is just over 10,000 people. During the tourist season, that many people might visit Mackinac Island each day, said Tim Hygh, who directs the island’s tourism bureau.
The expected surge of visitors means vaccinating the year-round residents has a deadline.
“Islands are sensitive, and islands with small populations are even more sensitive,” Hygh said, “especially if you’re going to … bring in over 10,000 people a day as visitors.”
The local health department waived the usual age restrictions that were preventing people younger than 50 from getting a COVID-19 vaccine, Ott said.
Now, said Hygh, “Just about anyone on Mackinac Island that can be vaccinated, and wants to be vaccinated, has been vaccinated.”