The University of Michigan plans to reopen Michigan Stadium as a COVID-19 vaccination clinic starting December 31, a Michigan Medicine spokesman Kelly Malcolm announced a press release on Wednesday afternoon. The stadium is one of several “planned locations” in the Michigan Medicine distribution plan.
“Casa Grande will be reopened to play a critical role in efforts to rapidly vaccinate as many people as possible, ”says the statement.
Although the stadium was open to the Michigan football team throughout the season, spectators were not allowed in the games. Players’ families were able to watch the games until November 15, after Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer announced a three-week executive order that restricted individuals from attending the games. Three football games against Maryland, Ohio State and Iowa were canceled due to the increase in COVID-19 positivity rates among the team.
According to the press release, hundreds of university students and staff who fall into the Phase 1A priority group – health professionals, as well as residents and employees of long-term care facilities – plan to receive vaccines at the stadium starting on Thursday. More than 6,000 Michigan Medicine healthcare professionals have already been vaccinated.
Michigan Medicine received an initial shipment of 1,950 vaccines and began vaccinating employees on December 14, just days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine for emergency use. UM officials had anticipated that the vaccination would begin on December 15 and increase throughout the month.
In an email to The Michigan Daily on December 14, Michigan Medicine spokeswoman Mary Masson wrote that the hospital is confident about its distribution plan.
“Michigan Medicine has mobilized its best and brightest professors and staff, many of whom are leaders in their respective fields, to develop and execute a robust vaccine delivery program,” Masson wrote.
Michigan Medicine announced their two-stage vaccination distribution plan earlier this month. Along with Phase 1A, Phase 1B includes other workers considered “essential”, such as food service workers, educators and police. Phase 1C is for all adults over 65, as well as those with high-risk medical conditions.
Phase 2 covers large-scale distribution to all adults. According to a December 14 email from University President Mark Schlissel, the University will eventually acquire enough doses for all those who wish to receive the vaccine.
In November, Michigan Medicine created the COVID-19 Vaccine & Therapeutics Taskforce, which works with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to create a distribution plan and identify priority groups.
Since then, members of the UM community have been asked to complete a Blue Queue questionnaire, a survey to determine interest in the COVID-19 vaccine and help the university plan the distribution of vaccines once they are widely available to students, teachers and staff.
While some students reported feeling suspicious about vaccination, many said they were they trust the vaccine to be effective and say they plan to receive the dose as soon as possible. Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are proven to be safe for almost all adults and are at least 94% effective in preventing the symptoms of COVID-19.
Managing news editors Barbara Collins and Liat Weinstein can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected].
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