MARQUETTE — The Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan has been awarded a grant by the National Network of Public Health Institutes to build national infrastructure for mitigating the impact of COVID-19 within racial and ethnic minority communities.

The Tribal Vaccine Equity Project provides tribes, tribal health centers and other tribal-serving community partners with training, technical assistance and monetary awards to support local vaccination efforts and address vaccine hesitancy.

The Health Care Provider Training funding opportunity has been extended through June 30.

Visit https://keepitsacred. itcmi.org/vaccineequity/ to apply.

The Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan, based in Sault Ste. Marie, indicated that health care providers play a vital role in building confidence in vaccines by being transparent, answering patients’ questions and concerns as well as dispelling misinformation. The Tribal Vaccine Equity Project is promoting three online training resources specifically designed to help providers talk to their patients about the COVID-19 vaccine as well as other vaccines.

The training includes talking points and techniques that can be applied to address patients’ concerns and any hesitancy associated with receiving the vaccine.

Up to $7,500 will be awarded to a tribal health center upon completing one or more online vaccine hesitancy trainings for health care providers. To receive this award, at least one staff member from a center will need to complete one or more of the trainings.

The council encourages centers to have their entire provider health care staff complete the training, either individually or as a group.

Whitmer announces investment

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday joined Pfizer Inc. in announcing a $120 million investment at its Kalamazoo facility, enabling U.S.-based production in support of its COVID-19 oral treatment, PAXLOVID, which will create more than 250 additional high-skill jobs at Pfizer’s Kalamazoo site.

“Pfizer’s $120 million expansion in Kalamazoo creating 250 good-paying jobs making Paxlovid will save lives and build on Michigan’s economic momentum,” Whitmer said in a statement. “Pfizer’s Kalamazoo facility also made some of the first doses of the vaccine, and now this proud Michigan company will play a critical role in both the treatment and prevention of COVID.”

This investment is another step in Pfizer’s effort to bring more key biopharmaceutical manufacturing to the U.S., increasing Pfizer’s capability to produce and supply treatments and medicines for patients in the U.S. and around the world, the governor’s office said.

“Pfizer Global Supply has made the impossible possible, making billions of vaccine doses and now millions of treatment courses to help battle the deadly COVID-19 pandemic,” said Albert Bourla, Pfizer chairman and CEO, in a statement. “By increasing production at our Michigan facility, we are both helping patients around the world and expanding important manufacturing innovation to the U.S. This investment builds upon our $5 billion of investments across our manufacturing and distribution portfolio since 2017 to support the ongoing growth of U.S. manufacturing leadership.”

To date, Pfizer has manufactured over 5.5 million packs of Paxlovid globally across 26 countries, including 1.3 million courses shipped to the U.S., the governor’s office said. The investment will allow Pfizer to increase supply capacity for Paxlovid as needed to help meet global demand.

With this new investment, Kalamazoo will be among the world’s largest producers of active pharmaceutical ingredient, with the capacity to produce 1,200 metric tons annually.

Pfizer also plans to expand its Modular Aseptic Processing sterile injectable pharmaceutical production facility in Kalamazoo with a phase two investment. The expansion adds to the initial investment of $450 million in phase one to build a 400,000-square-foot production facility.

“Pfizer’s Kalamazoo facility has been at the forefront of pharmaceutical manufacturing for more than 135 years through the legacy company Upjohn,” said Mike McDermott, Pfizer chief global supply officer, in a statement. “The Kalamazoo facility uses some of our most innovative manufacturing technology and has been essential in Pfizer’s fight against COVID-19, producing more than 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine at the site to date. Through this expansion, we will continue to invest in the next generation of manufacturing and supply chain resilience.”