Michigan gets $90.2 million from CDC for COVID-19 vaccine efforts
Michigan is getting a boost in federal dollars for its COVID-19 vaccine efforts.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday it ll award the state $90,239,771 to build partnerships with community-based organizations to increase vaccine uptake, especially among underserved populations hard-hit by the virus.
The goal is to use the money to ensure greater equity and access to vaccines in communities where people might not be able to get to vaccine sites or may be hesitant about vaccination.
The money comes from $3 billion in funding that the CDC is distributing from the American Rescue Plan and the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act.
Ingham Health Officer Asking Schools to Pause In-Person Classes
According to the Lansing State Journal, The Ingham County Health Department is saying that schools should suspend in-person classes after spring break as a precaution to prevent the continued spread of COVID-19.
Ingham County Health Officer Linda Vail issued a recommendation that schools move to remote learning for grades 6-12 for one week. (Lansing State Journal)
With all the numbers going up here in Michigan and so many families on spring break this week, there s no doubt that in-person classes should be put on hold for at least one if not two weeks.
LANSING For the third time in a month, Lansing School District pushed back its return to in-person learning.
The move comes after local health officials urged schools to keep students at home amid a spike in COVID-19 cases across the state.
In-person learning at Lansing schools will now resume on Monday, April 19, according to a press release issued Wednesday.
Administrators moved the original return date of March 22 back to Monday, April 12 after a district COVID coordinating committee, which included school nurses, expressed concern over rising cases.
The district is currently on spring break. Classes will be fully remote the first week back. The following week, students can choose to return to a mix of online and in-person learning.
LANSING Michigan State University will begin offering COVID-19 vaccines to students on Friday.
The state of Michigan recently told MSU that it would begin providing the school with doses of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, according to a Wednesday letter to students from MSU Senior Vice President for Hospitality Services and Auxiliary Enterprises Vennie Gore and Lt. Dave Oslund, emergency management coordinator.
MSU will administer the shots at the Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education starting Friday. This is all welcome news, and when combined with the fact that more than 80% of undergraduate and graduate students say they intend to get a COVID-19 vaccine, it moves us even closer to a more typical fall semester at Michigan State University, Gore and Oslund wrote.
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Michigan is currently experiencing one of the worst coronavirus surges in the United States. On Monday, The Ingham County Health Department recommended that local schools avoid in-person learning next week for grades six through 12.
Ingham County Health Officer Linda Vail said she expects case numbers to increase as people travel for spring break this week.
“Schools are congregate settings, and are sparking off outbreaks, she said.
“There s a significant amount of transmission going on in the community, she said. There s a significant ability to basically catch that virus and then move it around, and then you re moving it around by traveling and going other places, so it s just a good time to be safe.”