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Health experts work to expand COVID vaccinations

Courtesy hhs.gov

Now that 35-percent of eligible Michiganders are fully vaccinated, health officials say efforts need to focus on groups that are borderline-hesitant.

Borderline hesitant could be: your cousin who hasn't gotten their shot yet because it's inconvenient, or your pregnant friend who's heard mixed messages.

Dr. Stacey Sensor is an OBGYN with Munson Healthcare. She's been stressing the growing evidence that the vaccine is safe for pregnant women, and could even protect the baby too.

"This is an opportunity for our patients to receive that, to have decreased risk of having an adverse event, and I just think it's really really important that they take advantage of this opportunity," said Sensor.

Meanwhile Oakland County just announced a new marketing campaign aimed at "vulnerable and hard to reach communities" using smaller, more targeted clinics. 

Kate Wells is a Peabody Award-winning journalist and co-host of the Michigan Radio and NPR podcast Believed. The series was widely ranked among the best of the year, drawing millions of downloads and numerous awards. She and co-host Lindsey Smith received the prestigious Livingston Award for Young Journalists. Judges described their work as "a haunting and multifaceted account of U.S.A. Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar’s belated arrest and an intimate look at how an army of women – a detective, a prosecutor and survivors – brought down the serial sex offender."