Friday, March 29, 2024

Michigan updates COVID vaccination timeline

January 15, 2021
<p>A worker filling out paperwork in the COVID-19 testing station tent on the Capitol lawn during the Black Lives Matter protest at the Michigan State Capitol on June 29, 2020.</p>

A worker filling out paperwork in the COVID-19 testing station tent on the Capitol lawn during the Black Lives Matter protest at the Michigan State Capitol on June 29, 2020.

Photo by Devin Anderson-Torrez | The State News

The newest timeline for Michigan, released by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) on Wednesday, Jan. 13, sees a delay in the originally planned schedule, pushing the last prioritization group, everyone aged 16 and up without high-risk health conditions, toward the end of 2021. 

httpswww-michigan-govdocumentscoronavirus1-12-vaccine-timeline-712927-7-pdf

The timeline is estimated and expected to change even more, dependent on vaccine availability. 

The state recently opened up prioritization group 1B, including K-12 staff, childcare workers and those over 65, although low vaccine supply has slowed vaccine distribution, possibly accounting for the shift in the timeline.

In Ingham County, only between 2,000 to 3,000 people are able to receive the vaccine every week, while an estimated 83,000 have become eligible after prioritization group 1B opened. But, if given more supply of vaccine, Ingham County Health Officer Linda Vail, in a press conference on Jan. 12, said that the Ingham County Health Department is capable of increasing the vaccination rate.

“We would love to do more a week, that’s all the vaccine we get,” Vail said. “So, the option that I’m seeking is to continue to request more vaccine. Right now, the state is not getting increased allocation.”

Earlier this week, on Tuesday, Jan. 12, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced that the Trump administration would no longer hold back doses of the vaccine. Although, according to a report from the Washington Post on Jan. 15, this vaccine stockpile doesn’t exist.

On Monday, Jan. 11, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer penned a letter to Azar requesting permission to directly purchase up to 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

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