Teens from 12 to 15 now qualify for Pfizer's COVID vaccine.
But they won’t be counted towards the Governor’s benchmarks for reopening the state.
Federal officials are expected to lay out guidelines for inoculating younger teens Wednesday, but Governor Gretchen Whitmer said during a stop Tuesday in Kalamazoo that rolling back pandemic restrictions still depends on the 16-plus standard.
That’s why the statistics for adolescents will be kept separately, for now.
"We're not going to immediately roll on those numbers because it would artificially slow the progress that we're making, and we want to give people predictability and goals to focus on, and that's why the 'Vacc-to-Normal' plan was so important."
But Whitmer says it's still important for young people to be vaccinated. She says they may not face the same initial risks from COVID-19, but some kids do get very ill, and others can spread the virus.