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Detroit
mayor:
600-700
calls
per hour
for
vaccinations
By
COREY
WILLIAMS
apnews.com
DETROIT
-
Operators
scheduling
COVID-19
vaccinations
for
elderly
Detroit
residents
were
receiving
600 to
700
calls
per hour
Tuesday
for
appointments
as
people
seek
more
vaccines
than
currently
are
available.
The
city has
started
scheduled
vaccinations
for
residents
75 and
older
and will
begin
offering
them to
people
65 and
older
once
more
doses
are
received
from the
federal
government,
Mayor
Mike
Duggan
told
reporters
Tuesday.
Detroit
received
about
120,000
calls
Monday,
but many
were not
eligible
yet for
the
vaccine,
Duggan
added.
About
40,000
people
in
Detroit
are 75
or
older,
Duggan
said.
About
2,000
vaccine
doses
received
earlier
are
being
used for
firefighters,
city
health
department
workers
and
residents
at
assisted
living
centers.
Detroit
received
3,900
doses of
the
Pfizer
vaccine
Monday
that
will be
used to
vaccinate
residents
75 and
older.
“One-third
of all
of our
neighbors
that we
lost
this
past
year to
COVID
were
over the
age of
75,” he
said.
“People
over 75
who get
COVID
are far
more
likely
to die
than
people
over 65.
They are
the ones
most
vulnerable
to COVID
and they
have to
be our
highest
priority.”
Since
the
start of
the
pandemic,
Detroit
has had
more
than
27,000
confirmed
cases of
the
virus
and
1,734
deaths.
On
Monday,
the
state
began
offering
vaccines
to
Michigan
residents
65 and
older in
addition
to
frontline
workers
like
police
officers,
first
responders,
teachers
and
childcare
workers.
“There
is a
difference
between
saying
65-year-olds
are
eligible
and
actually
having
the
vaccine,”
Duggan
added,
saying
the
federal
government
has
“botched
this
from the
beginning”
and has
been
slow to
provide
states
with the
number
of doses
initially
promised.
“We’re
probably
only
going to
see
75-year-olds,
and
teachers
and cops
getting
the
lions’
share of
the
vaccinations
the next
two or
three
weeks,”
he said.
“Everybody
is
moving
as fast
as the
vaccines
show
up.”
Duggan
said 400
vaccinations
were
booked
for
Wednesday
at the
TCF
convention
center
downtown.
Another
600 were
will be
vaccinated
Thursday
and 800
on
Friday.
Starting
next
week,
Duggan
said the
city
expects
to be
vaccinating
1,000
people
per day.
“If
the
vaccine
number
goes up,
we’ll
increase
those
bookings.
If the
vaccine
number
goes
down, we
may have
to
reschedule
some
folks to
another
day,” he
said.
Michigan
reported
1,994
confirmed
daily
cases of
the
virus
Tuesday
and 100
deaths.
The
state
has had
more
than
525,000
confirmed
cases of
the
virus
and
13,501
deaths
since
the
start of
the
pandemic.
Gov.
Gretchen
Whitmer’s
office
said
that on
Tuesday
the U.S.
Department
of
Health
and
Human
Services
announced
it would
send
millions
of
vaccine
doses to
some
states,
including
Michigan.
Whitmer
and
eight
other
governors
had
requested
more
vaccines
that she
said
were
being
held
back by
the
Trump
Administration.
Whitmer
also
said she
sent a
letter
Monday
to the
Trump
Administration
requesting
permission
for
Michigan
to buy
up to
100,000
vaccine
doses.
___
Williams
reported
from
West
Bloomfield,
Michigan.
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