Whitmer doubles daily COVID vaccine goal

To date, Michigan has administered 4,207,102 vaccines, moving the state closer to its goal of equitably vaccinating at least 70% of Michiganders ages 16 and older as soon as possible.

Michigan’s COVID-19 vaccination goal has been doubled from 50,000 to 100,000 shots per day.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made the announcement on Wednesday based on the state’s successful efforts to expand vaccine administration with private-public partnerships and the increase in vaccine doses allocated to the state.

For 38 days, Michigan has met or exceeded its original goal of administering 50,000 vaccinations per day. To date, Michigan has administered 4,207,102 vaccines, moving the state closer to its goal of equitably vaccinating at least 70% of Michiganders ages 16 and older as soon as possible.

“Michigan is making great strides as our rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines continues ramping up,” Whitmer said. “The safe, effective vaccines are one of the best ways to protect you and your family from coronavirus, and they are essential to getting our country back to normal so we can hug our families, get back to work, send our kids to school, and get together again.’’

Michigan ranks ninth in the United States in number of doses administered, according to the CDC.

In next week’s shipment, the Biden administration will increase the state’s direct allocation by 66,020 doses for a total of 620,040 vaccines, a weekly record high for Michigan.

This allocation includes 147,800 doses of the singleshot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

With a seven-day case rate of 361.5 per 100,000 Michigan ranks second in the country behind just New York City (366.5), according to the CDC.

Michigan’s case rate is extremely high compared to other Midwest states — Minnesota (181.4), Illinois (130.3), Ohio (102), Indiana (93.8) and Wisconsin (80.1).