The Latest COVID-19 Vaccine News for the Week of March 12
Thanks to those who were able to join us on Monday Morning COVID-19 Briefing & Roundup. Please join us again on Monday for our ongoing weekly series for the latest COVID-19 related news. After weeks of relatively little vaccine related news, this week saw some significant new developments.
Latest Vaccine News
On Wednesday March 10, 2021, the Biden Administration announced it had purchased an additional 100 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. That comes on the heels of last week’s announcement that the U.S. expect to take have enough vaccines for all adults by the end of May. The U.S. is expected to 800 million vaccine doses available by summer which is more than enough to vaccinate all US adults and may allow the government to send vaccines to other countries. Yesterday, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan that includes $14 billion for vaccine distribution and additional funds for testing, screening, contact tracing and continued research and development.
Earlier today, Michigan announced that all residents 16 years old and up will become eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine on April 5. Caregiver family members and guardians who care for children with special needs are currently eligible for vaccination. Beginning March 22, 2021, people age 16 to 49 with certain medical conditions or disabilities and residents age 50 and up will be eligible for vaccination. Employers and individuals are encouraged to contact their local health department to determine if their county has made the vaccine available to additional categories of individuals. For example, in Detroit, restaurant and grocery store employees are eligible.
Latest Distribution and Administration Numbers
As of today, 98.2 million doses have been administered which is an increase of approximately 30 million from last week. In the last week, an average of 2.2 million shots per day. That is an increase of 900,000 shots per day.
Here in Michigan, over 3.42 million doses have been distributed which is an increase of 421,000 from last week. At that pace Michigan has access to enough vaccines to reach its goal of vaccinating 50,000 people per week. Similar to last week, over 400,000 Michiganders were vaccinated in the last seven days meeting the state’s goal of vaccinating 50,000 people per week. Michigan has now administered more than 2.8 million doses of the vaccine.