Hackel Asks President Biden For 50K COVID-19 Vaccine Doses A Week

MACOMB COUNTY, MI — Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel on Friday penned a letter to President Joe Biden asking the newly sworn-in president for a large uptick in COVID-19 vaccine doses.

In the letter, Hackel asked Biden to provide Macomb County with 50,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses per week. The Macomb County Health Department currently receives about 5,000 doses every week. Those doses are allocated by the state of Michigan, which recieves allotments of vaccine doses from the federal government.

An increase of this size would allow the county to vaccinate nearly 40 percent of its population, while also helping Biden achieve his goal of administering 100 million shots to Americans in 100 days, Hackel said.

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“With the federal government ramping up new vaccine distribution plans, I want to make clear that Macomb County has the capacity to make this happen,” Hackel said. “President Biden and his administration hope to administer 100 million doses in 100 days. We can be a partner and a leader in this ambitious endeavor.”

The Macomb County Health Department began vaccinating emergency service workers several weeks ago. When Michigan opened up vaccinations to a larger population in mid-January, the county saw a dramatic spike in people seeking appointments. Current supply levels cannot meet the demand, Hackel said.

Making things worse, the state recently saw a shortage of vaccine shipments after the federal government said it would increase the allotment Michigan received. That shortage prompted issued for several communities, including Wayne County, the city of Detroit and Washtenaw County.

“Our health department is prepared to vaccinate our community, but unfortunately, our potential has been limited by the number of doses we are getting,” Hackel said. “If we receive 50,000 doses every week, we would work with our local hospitals, pharmacies, medical facilities and EMT agencies to administer that supply and get 40 percent of our population vaccinated.”