State health department officials say they want more COVID-19 vaccine clinics in Michigan with longer hours.
Officials with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services laid out their strategy for getting 70% of Michigan residents vaccinated in the coming months. The exact timetable is dependent on the supply of vaccines.
Dr. Joneigh Khaldun is Michigan’s Chief Medical Executive. She says she wants people to have to travel no more than 20 minutes to a vaccination site. Khaldun also hopes some of the clinics could operate 24 hours a day.
“We want to get shots in arms,” says Khaldun, “But to do that we also have to really build a robust network of vaccination sites. We want to make sure Michiganders have equitable access to vaccines.”
Khaldun says the state has the capacity to vaccinate up to 80,000 people a day, depending on the vaccine supply from the federal government. She says the state is getting a 20% boost in its vaccine allocation from the federal government.
Between January 28 and February 3, approximately 247,000 vaccine doses were administered in Michigan, including both patients receiving their first and second doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
During the same period, roughly close to 12,000 Michiganders tested positive for the virus.
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