Michigan Health Watch

With vaccines still scarce, hospital and emergency workers are first in line. But as more get vaccinated, local health officials must make tough choices among essential workers and other, more vulnerable groups.

Grand Valley State University medical ethicist Jeffrey Byrnes addresses some of the moral questions involved in dispensing scarce supplies of vaccines.

He’d look at me, pleadingly, the reality of the situation dawning anew each time. And then he would wink or mouth the words “I love you” and his eyes would close again.

State health officials are tracking the recipients of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, and Bridge Michigan has incorporated the information into its coronavirus dashboard.

On Monday, a 46-year-old pulmonologist at Spectrum Health became the first Michigan recipient of a COVID-19 vaccine. Health leaders say broad vaccination is needed to protect society, but businesses, including hospitals, do not yet appear ready to require them of workers.

Michigan health care workers have spent the last nine months in the trenches battling COVID. But not all will opt-in.

Two weeks after the holiday, coronavirus cases are declining in Michigan as they are increasing elsewhere. Health officials are optimistic families heeded the message to avoid larger gatherings.

Distribution begins with 56 hospitals and 16 health departments throughout Michigan, while those in health care settings, essential workers and the elderly are first in line.

An estimated 222,000 Michiganders lost employer-sponsored coverage in one four-month period this spring because of COVID-19, according to one report.

Vaccines may be shipped soon from Pfizer’s Kalamazoo plant, as the vaccine nears final approval. Michigan is receiving more than 250,000 doses, and first priority goes to health care workers.