News Photo by Crystal Nelson District Health Department No. 4 officials and area county commissioners attend the DHD No. 4 Health Board meeting Tuesday at the Hillman Community Center.

ALPENA — District Health Department No. 4 officials expect to scale back their mass vaccination clinics in the next couple of weeks.

Health Department officials on Tuesday told the Health Board that fewer people have shown up to recent clinics and people the department has reached out to have declined to take the shots. Officials said residents could be hesitant after the federal government paused the Johnson and Johnson vaccine over rare blood clots in a small number of patients or residents continue to take a “wait-and-see” approach to the vaccine. Some of those reached by the department also may have already been vaccinated.

Therefore, the department plans to either scale back vaccination clinics or transition back to immunization clinics.

State data shows that at least 40% of all residents 16 and older in Alpena, Presque Isle, Montmorency, and Alcona counties have been fully vaccinated, with Presque Isle County leading the way at about 47% fully vaccinated. Public health experts say as much as 85% of a community must be vaccinated before we can declare the pandemic over.

Health Department officials also announced Tuesday they removed the pre-registration link for COVID-19 vaccinations from its website, as vaccines are now available to Michigan residents without an appointment.

Emma Vieregge, the health department’s emergency preparedness supervisor, said the Health Department will continue wrapping up the second dose clinics they have planned, and are planning for walk-in clinics every other week in Alpena and Cheboygan counties and once a month clinics in Montmorency and Presque Isle clinics at the health department offices.

“If interest is still there in the community as we get more vaccinations we’ll make adjustments and we’ll keep offering it to them,” she said. “That’s the most important thing right now, is getting shots into arms.”

Hover over the interactive chart below to see the percent of Northeast Michiganders fully vaccinated against COVID-19, meaning they’d received both shots of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or the single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Viewing on mobile? Turn your device horizontally for the best viewing experience.

Chairman and Alpena County Commissioner Bob Adrian asked if the health department has reached the point where the vaccine supply is more than what they are going to use from week to week.

Vieregge said they have reached that saturation point, where there are so many places in Alpena to get vaccinated now. She said at the end of clinics, health department employees are reaching out to the surrounding businesses to see if anyone wants to be vaccinated and they are being told no.

“I think there’s a proportion of the population that are choosing not to be vaccinated,” she said.

Devin Spivey, community health director and epidemiologist, said the Health Department came “pretty darn close” to reaching its goal of administering 8,000 doses in Alpena, Presque Isle, Montmorency, and Cheboygan counties.

Spivey said the health department administered 7,954 doses of the vaccine since the board last met on March 16.

Spivey said the health department is also 6% higher than the state at vaccine initiation and 10% higher in vaccine completion.

Vieregge also spoke about how the pause of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine has altered their vaccination plans. The Food and Drug Administration paused the use of the vaccine in the U.S. after six cases of rare blood clotting were detected from 6.5 million doses that were administered.

Vieregge said officials had plans to use the one-dose vaccine for those who are home-bound and to vaccinate inmates at the Alpena County jail, but have had to change their plans to use the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine instead.

Administrative Health Officer Denise Bryan said they are waiting for more information on Friday, when a decision is expected to be made on whether the vaccine can be used in the United States.

A vaccine clinic is also being planned for the seasonal workers who work in Cheboygan County.

“We do have a big population that comes in from Jamaica, so we are hoping to do a clinic for them in either late May or early June,” she said. “Their workers right now are kind of trickling in, and they only have a fraction of the expected population, so we’re gonna hold off for a little bit longer until they have more of their workforce on site.”

Additionally, Bryan notified the board administration did not purchase the software approved by the board last month, which would have allowed administrators to spend up to $50,000 on software to allow the public to register for an vaccine appointment online.

She said within 72 hours of the meeting, health officials noticed vacant appointments and that they caught up on their waiting list. Bryan said she and Deputy Health Officer Judy Greer began talking about whether it was the best way to spend the Health Department’s money and if they’ve reached a saturation point.

“That’s a lot of money on software that may not give us value for our other public services,” she said. “So I stood down on that decision, and we didn’t know whether it was the right one until about a week later, where we had exhausted our waiting list.”

Bryan said that’s when they began offering walk-ins and would use the press to communicate how many vaccines were available to the public.

Information about upcoming clinics are still available on the health department website dhd4.org/covid19vaccine. Call 1-800-221-0294 if a specific appointment time is required.