Children's COVID-19 vaccines available, health officials preparing for fall caseloads

There is a prediction for a fall surge of COVID-19. Whether it will come and what it will entail are unknown, Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency Health Officer Rebecca Burns said.

For June, “Cases are certainly higher than in April and May, but in general, most cases are mild and not resulting in severe disease,” Burns said.

Michigan is still listed as in the Recovery Phase.

“Here we are planning for how we will respond to a fall surge in cases that is expected,” she said.

The agency's COVID coordinator position must be filled after registered nurse Kim Lussier moved on to the Kent County area.

The health agency is taking vaccination appointments for the youngest children.

“We have begun offering the COVID vaccine to our youngest county residents aged six months to 5 years," Burns said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized emergency use of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine and the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to include use in children as young as 6 months.

More: Youngest Americans can start getting COVID-19 vaccine

“We continue to offer the vaccine to anyone who wants it and appointments can be made on our website or by contacting our offices,” Burns said.

The free COVID-19 testing continues at agency offices. Beginning in July, the agency will move the testing firm back upstairs in Hillsdale to operate out of the lobby.

In May, Burns and the staff began exploring grant applications for family planning after the agency ended those services in 2007.

“We are still evaluating the RFP for family planning, but have learned that the funding available for our tri-county area is less than what we received when we last conducted the program," she said.

Burns said the $140,000 funding is not enough to hire a full-time physician assistant necessary to operate the program with benefits.

The director said the Michigan League of Public Policy would focus on the lack of public health funding in Michigan over the next year.

In a report provided to the board, Simon Marshall-Shah, a policy analyst with the League, said COVID-19 dominated conversations about public health and the policies over the last few years among the state’s 45 local health agencies.

The agencies and leaders, including public health practitioners, “have learned how best to respond and, in many cases, have come together to do so effectively and saved thousands of lives in Michigan."

Michigan spends $83 per person on public health a year. This spending is 40th in the country, where the average is $116 per person. Marshall-Shah said this caused “shifts in resources like funding, staffing and programming away from other services.”

The League reported this month, “To better protect communities across Michigan, public health services – especially those at the local level and delivered through local agencies — need more state funding.”

The report states, “Compared with other states, Michigan’s per-person public health spending is low, and agencies must be better equipped to provide essential, local services and programming that goes well beyond COVID-related care.” 

This article originally appeared on The Daily Reporter: Children's COVID-19 vaccine appointments available