North Michigan News

Michigan has paved the way by lowering the age for residents eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine to 50, according to reporting by Bridge Michigan.

It's the first state to reduce the age requirement to 50.  Two other states, Connecticut and Indiana, are allowing residents 55 and older to be vaccinated, while most other states are still working to inoculate people ages 65 and older. 

Michiganders 50 and older who have an underlying health condition or a disability can start receiving their first dose on Monday, March 8, while the entire state population over the age of 50, regardless of health status, will become eligible Monday, March 22.  The move by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to lower the minimum age will mean over 2 million more residents will be able to get vaccinated should they chose to do so. 

"Making the vaccine available (to people over 50) will have an outsized impact on hospitalizations and deaths," Derel Glashower, Ottawa County's senior epidemiologist, told Bridge Michigan. 

The decision to lower the age of eligible vaccine recipients will likely have a positive impact and decrease case numbers. Dropping the age also means one-third of the state's population will be able to get vaccinated, which is an important step towards the goal of reaching "herd immunity" by inoculating 70% of Michiganders over the age of 16.

Whitmer's announcement came just a day after President Joe Biden said that by the end of May a vaccine would be available to every adult in the U.S. who wants to receive it. The ambitious timeline was almost simultaneous with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's authorization of the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine and word that the other two vaccine manufactures, Pfizer and Moderna, would be increasing production. 

Even so, Michigan is expected to receive a half a million doses this week, which was more than double the amount it had been getting each week in the last month.