{"id":4165,"date":"2021-02-18T16:46:53","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T16:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.michamber.com\/?post_type=news&amp;p=4165"},"modified":"2021-02-18T16:46:53","modified_gmt":"2021-02-18T16:46:53","slug":"state-announces-changes-to-vaccine-strategy-essential-food-and-agriculture-workers-up-next","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.michamber.com\/news\/state-announces-changes-to-vaccine-strategy-essential-food-and-agriculture-workers-up-next\/","title":{"rendered":"State Announces Changes to Vaccine Strategy; Essential Food and Agriculture Workers Up Next"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Advocacy News &#8211; February 18, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The Michigan Department of Health of Human Services (MDHHS) earlier this week announced changes to its vaccine strategy intended to \u00a0\u201cenhance the state\u2019s equity strategy to reach more Michiganders with the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The revised strategy is focused on getting \u201cmore vulnerable Michiganders vaccinated\u201d including:<\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li class=\"x_MsoListParagraph\">Mortuary Service Workers &#8211; Starting immediately, mortuary service workers, who routinely work with infectious materials, will be able to be vaccinated as part of group 1A in accordance with CDC and Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommendations.<\/li>\n<li class=\"x_MsoListParagraph\">Federally Qualified Health Centers \u2013 The state announced Michigan\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/documents\/lara\/MI_FQHC_Directory_2-2016_515631_7.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-auth=\"NotApplicable\">41 federally qualified health centers<\/a>\u00a0across the state will start receiving vaccine allocations to help vaccinate individuals age 65 and older. These community health centers are located in medically underserved areas to provide high-quality, affordable and comprehensive medical services to everyone \u2013 regardless of their ability to pay.<\/li>\n<li class=\"x_MsoListParagraph\">Food Processing and Agricultural Workers &#8211; The state announced workers in food processing and agricultural settings, about 79,000 Michiganders, will be able to be vaccinated as of March 1.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Currently, persons 65 and older are eligible to be vaccinated across the state. \u00a0\u00a0The updated vaccine strategy specifies providers \u201cwith specific plans to remove barriers to access across the state\u201d will also be allowed to request vaccines for people age 60 and up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">MDHHS recently announced a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/documents\/coronavirus\/1.29.21_Michigan_Vaccine_Strategy_FINAL_714811_7.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-auth=\"NotApplicable\">state\u2019s strategy<\/a>\u00a0to get 70 percent of Michiganders age 16 and older vaccinated as quickly as possible. \u00a0To date, Michigan has administered approximately\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/coronavirus\/0,9753,7-406-98178_103214-547150--,00.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-auth=\"NotApplicable\">1.657 million<\/a>\u00a0doses of the COVID vaccine, largely following the updated\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/documents\/coronavirus\/MI_COVID-19_Vaccination_Prioritization_Guidance_2152021_716344_7.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-auth=\"NotApplicable\">vaccine prioritization guidance<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Please contact Wendy Block with any questions at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:wblock@michamber.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-auth=\"NotApplicable\">wblock@michamber.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Advocacy News &#8211; February 18, 2021 The Michigan Department of Health of Human Services (MDHHS) earlier this week announced changes to its vaccine strategy intended to \u00a0\u201cenhance the state\u2019s equity strategy to reach more Michiganders with the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine.\u201d The revised strategy is focused on getting \u201cmore vulnerable Michiganders vaccinated\u201d including: Mortuary [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michamber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/4165"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michamber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michamber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.michamber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/4165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14414,"href":"https:\/\/www.michamber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/4165\/revisions\/14414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michamber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}