Beginning Monday, Michigan is offering COVID-19 vaccinations to people age 65 and older. But many health officials complain there are just not enough doses of vaccine available.
Michigan is already vaccinating health care workers and those who live or work in long-term care facilities.
Now Detroit officials say they will schedule vaccine appointments at the city’s downtown TCF Center starting Monday. Those age 75 and up are eligible at the moment, plus anyone age 65 or older who drives them to the facility.
The city is also providing vaccines for Detroit police officers, bus drivers and those at homeless shelters among others. But in surrounding Wayne County, officials say they are only receiving about a thousand doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine a week, despite requesting five times that amount.
Officials in neighboring Oakland and Macomb Counties appealed to Governor Gretchen Whitmer for more vaccine. Whitmer, in turn, joined governors from seven other states in asking the federal government for additional doses. President-elect Joe Biden pledges to release all of the available vaccine after he takes office on January 20th.