Detroit remains far behind in reaching vaccination goal. One problem? Young people.

Dana Afana Jasmin Barmore
Detroit Free Press

On a recent muggy Sunday evening, four Detroiters decided it was time to hang out again downtown.

Khadeeja Abdulrafee, Aminah Doukoure, Santonio Williams and Steven Pharker, who had been friends for years, believed it would be a great day to party in the streets because everyone was off work the next day, Labor Day. While they walked up alongside Greektown Casino, the pack — all smiles, laughter and chatting while drinking alcohol disguised in traveling cups — seemed to have a lot in common.

That isexcept one thing: the COVID-19 vaccine.

Friends Aminah Doukoure, Khadeeja Abdulrafee, Santonio Williams and Steven Pharker talk about pros and cons of getting the COVID-19 vaccine Saturday, September 04, 2021 in Detroit.

“I feel like you're compromising your body itself with getting the vaccine,” Williams, 29, said to the group. “You never had that vaccine before now so whatever they are putting in that medicine has never entered your body."

Pharker, 30, who is vaccinated, replied to Williams: “So you don’t think it’s safe?”

“No, I do not,” Williams and Abdulrafee said in unison.

Santonio Williams talks about pros and cons of getting the COVID-19 vaccine Saturday, September 04, 2021 in Detroit.

Despite widespread efforts to vaccinate Detroiters against the coronavirus, young people remain divided over the issue among even close friends, keeping the city far behind its goal.

More than 43% of eligible Detroit residents have received at least one vaccine dose, but that figure trails surrounding suburban counties and the state as a whole by significant margins. The city’s older population — those between ages 65 and 74 — has the best performance, with nearly 70% notching their first dose. So it's much younger people, especially those in their teens and 20s, who have fallen far behind, keeping the city's overall progress depressed, city records show. 

“We want to reach 70% of community immunity and we just aren’t there yet,” said Denise Fair, chief health officer of the Detroit Health Department.

There are about 106,000 out of 639,111 residents in the city who are in their 20s. Less than one out of every five of them have been vaccinated. The ages 12 through 15 set is bringing up the rear with the lowest vaccination rate, though vaccines were only authorized for the younger group in May. 

Fear is keeping some like 29-year-old Abdulrafee from the vaccine, saying they don't trust the long-term side effects. 

"In the long run, I think something is going to happen to people who took the vaccine, said Abdulrafee, who works as a postal carrier. "Unless my job forces me to get it, I'm not getting it. Keeping my job to support my family is the only way that I would be willing to put myself at risk and take this vaccine." 

Abdul El-Sayed, an epidemiologist and former Michigan gubernatorial candidate who served as the city's health director, said despite the anxiety among some about the new vaccine, the underlying science has a long history.

“I remember reading about it when I was in medical school. You think about the hundreds of millions of people who’ve been vaccinated. We’ve been closely watching the side-effect profile. These are probably some of the best vaccines that are understood right now,” El-Sayed said.

Part of the challenge may be that the city government itself doesn't have a vaccine mandate. About 9,000 people work for the city and are not currently required to be vaccinated, according to John Roach, spokesperson for the mayor's office. But they are required to be tested every other week.

Another hurdle for public officials is convincing a generation once largely immune from the worst of COVID-19 that they are now at greater risk.

“About 18 months ago, younger people were not getting COVID. It was the older generation,” Fair said. “Younger people felt they were invincible because they are healthy, they don’t have as many chronic diseases. We are intentional about meeting them where they are and that, yes they too can get COVID." 

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Fair also wants to highlight the experience of other young people like 18-year-old Jordan Banks. In an interview, Banks said she, unlike many other people her age, chose to get vaccinated because she knows all too well that COVID-19 is real regardless of how old you are. 

"I actually caught COVID last December" said Banks. "I was in the house for a whole week and I could not do anything. I was scared and.... I didn't receive a sense of calmness until I recovered from it."

Greater serenity for Banks came in April when she got her Pfizer vaccine. 

"The real relief came when they created the vaccine and I got it just for that," she said. "And after the shot, I was relieved to be able to go out and do what I needed to do and feel some sense of protection."

Fair said the city expanded drive-through options to catch all young people where they are — at churches, bars, restaurants, parks and even their homes. More than 1,500 appointments for vaccinations have already been made. Anyone can make an appointment by calling 313-230-0505.

Detroit Chief Public Health Officer Denise Fair gives an update on the city's preparation for COVID-19 at Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit on March 11, 2020.

"We knocked on over 300,000 doors in the community, letting Detroiters know about the importance of the vaccine and where to get it," Fair said. 

The city is attempting to reach younger crowds where they spend a lot of their time. The health department launched a social media campaign — available either through TikTok or Instagram Reel — where locals can create educational videos about the vaccine and staying safe from COVID-19 through a song, dance, skit, interview or any other creative form. The winner will be featured on a billboard. Entries are limited to ages 13-29 and must include "#LetsGetReal" in the video and caption and tag @Dethealth.

“We definitely see the strengths of the social media aspect of it," said Roshanak Mehdipanah, assistant professor of public health and urban researcher at the University of Michigan. "I think with COVID, TikTok has taken off to a whole different level so anything to try to get people motivated, to try to get people informed about it, that’s really helpful.” 

Mehdipanah added that it's important to have “community members going out to these homes and having a conversation with individuals, and giving people an opportunity to ask questions.”

However, more needs to be done. El-Sayed said there’s a level of invincibility among the younger crowd that can be hard to overcome. While incentives have been effective to boost numbers, he said, the effect eventually wears off.

Gubernatorial Democratic candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed visits his campaign headquarters in Detroit on Aug. 7, 2018.

"Mandates we've seen are probably the most important and valuable thing. While we have had real mandates at the level of businesses and employees, we haven’t seen much consumer-oriented vaccine mandates," El-Sayed said. 

To boost vaccinations, El-Sayed highlighted France's mandates, which involved tightening pandemic restrictions by requiring vaccinations or negative COVID-19 tests to enter businesses or events. Doing so led to 800,000 shots in a day.

He added that with a new mandate from President Joe Biden targeting large employers, "I think there’s going to be a lot of smaller businesses following suit because there’s a precedent." 

Biden also proposed that employers offer paid time off for employees to get vaccinated, which El-Sayed applauded as a difference-maker.

For Tiba Robinson, a 46-year-old city employee who avoided the vaccine until recently, getting the shot didn't feel like a choice. 

“I had to get vaccinated because my job demanded it," said Robinson, who is also a Detroit influencer and event promoter. 

“It was like, 'do I want to keep my job and continue living my comfortable lifestyle?' " Robinson said, while celebrating his 20-year anniversary of #HushSignatureSundays at Floods Bar & Grille in Detroit. “It was basically either I get vaccinated or I have to take a COVID test every Monday to keep my job. And who wants to keep getting that swab up their nose?”

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Vicki Kovari is leading the city's effort to dispatch canvassers armed with educational postcards and text messages into the crowds who may be uncertain about the vaccine. 

"We're really trying to get people to feel more comfortable," Kovari said in an interview. "That’s our main target right now, people who are just not sure."

For Antoinette White on the city's east side, the effort may not make a difference

"Every day, I turn on the news and I'm constantly hearing something about this vaccine," said White, 33. "Like, over time, it loses its effectiveness and you'll need another dose and even if you are vaccinated, the person may still get sick or after being vaccinated, someone suddenly passed away.

"Why would I go put this in my body? How is this vaccine more beneficial to me than whatever I have been doing within the last year and a half?"

But more information may convince Abdulrafee, who goes by the name KD FYA as a Detroit rap artist, into a change of heart. 

Khadeeja Abdulrafee talks about pros and cons of getting the COVID-19 vaccine Saturday, September 04, 2021 in Detroit.

She said she hasn't received any literature about the vaccine from the city, nor has anyone knocked on the door of her west-side home. However, she said it is possible more education could sway her into getting the vaccine if she believed the information to be "credible."

That's part of the reason Kovari's goal is to educate residents through individual appointments and greater access to the vaccine. The biggest challenge canvassers face is with the younger crowd and their lack of urgency, Kovari said.

Of the people who have responded to neighborhood canvassers, more than one third say they have already been vaccinated or have an appointment to do so. Of the remaining majority, about 40% said they are uncertain about what course they will take. 

"But in the last month, the city saw an uptick in appointments after schools required vaccinations," Kovari added.

Tristan Taylor, 28, an organizer with the protest group Detroit Will Breathe, said he encourages people in his age range to get the vaccine like he did.

Tristan Taylor leads protesters while marching along Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit on the sixth day of protests against police brutality on Wednesday, June 3, 2020.

Taylor believes it's a "combination of uncertainty and distrust of the science behind it."

Taylor said specifically for the younger group, they feel that they're being used more just to stop the spread of the virus with no concern for what can happen to them if they take the vaccine.   

Abdulrafee, who had COVID-19 with only milder symptoms, said she is just going to trust God who may have brought the disease to the world for a purpose. She'll also take her chances without the vaccine, despite growing entreaties from city officials about the dangers to her age group. 

"Some people are going to get the virus and some aren't and I just pray that neither myself or anyone in my family gets it," she said. "And I just keep moving on with my life because this virus is not going to scare me into doing stuff to my body where I don't really know what is going to happen to me."

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Find a COVID-19 vaccine near you

Text your ZIP code to 438829. You’ll receive an immediate response with a list of vaccination sites in your area, a number you can call if you need more help, and information on how you might get a free ride to the location using Uber or Lyft.

Search for vaccine locations by ZIP code. https://www.vaccines.gov/search/.

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Contact Dana Afana: dafana@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter at @DanaAfana

Contact Jasmin Barmore: jmbarmore@freepress.com. Follow her on Instagram or Twitter at @bjasminmarie.