Washington – While Michigan faced an increase in coronavirus cases, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer continued to push the Biden administration to send more doses of vaccine to the state to combat its ongoing crisis.
“We’re seeing an increase in Michigan even though we have some of the strongest policies, mask mandates, capacity limits and work from home. We’ve asked our state for a two-week break,” Whitmer said in a statement. interview with “Face the Nation.” “So despite all of that, we’re experiencing an increase because of these variants. And that’s precisely why we’re encouraging them to think about the rise of vaccines in the state of Michigan.”
On Friday, Whitmer publicly urged the Biden administration to send more doses of coronavirus vaccine to the state as it experiences an increase in cases, hospitalization and deaths. But while Michigan is one of the nation’s worst coronavirus outbreaks, the federal government has refused to send more shots to the state and instead maintains its plan to distribute doses based on the adult population.
Jeffrey Zients, White House COVID-19 response team coordinator, said the administration would send more vaccinators, test supplies, therapeutic products and treatments to Michigan.
Whitmer, however, said the state has the ability to get more gunfire and warned that maintaining rigid vaccine distribution plans could also hurt other states if they experience outbreaks.
“In a company of this magnitude, with so much consequence, it is important to recognize where there may be a need for some adjustments along the way,” he said, adding that in the last two weeks more than a million shots in Michigan.
The state, he said, has “thousands of partners” ready to administer the vaccines, but “we just need the vaccines to get to Michigan.”
“When there’s an increase, we think it’s important that we hurry to meet where that need is, because what’s happening in Michigan today may be what’s happening tomorrow in other states,” Whitmer said. “And that’s why we all need to recognize that we can crush where we see hot spots. It’s in everyone’s best interest.”
As of Thursday, Michigan has administered more than 5.3 million doses of coronavirus vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although residents of the state 16 years of age or older are eligible to receive their shots, Whitmer failed to commit to failing to meet the requirement for residents to have a vaccination appointment, which could increase rates. of vaccines in communities that do not have Internet access.
“We had an appointment process and it worked pretty well,” he said. “And I think with more vaccines, we’ll continue to see it work well.”
While Whitmer implemented some of the strictest mitigation measures in the country during previous rises in coronavirus infections, he would also not commit to forcing children to get vaccinated before returning to school. Pfizer said last week that it asked the FDA to authorize its vaccine for teens between the ages of 12 and 15.
“It’s possible for schools to do that. Right now, we’re not having that conversation,” he said. “I can tell you. We have continued to have good mitigation policies. We have continued to move firearms and weapons. And all this despite having a reduced set of powers due to the antagonism of my own legislature. Therefore, there is no “But we encourage schools to move forward, to take a break right now and to enact policies to keep their students and staff safe.”
Whitmer attributed the rise in his status in coronavirus infections to low rates of past infection, meaning fewer people have antibodies, the prevalence of variants, and resident fatigue in limiting their activities.