President Joe Biden will be in the state today to tour the Pfizer plant in Kalamazoo, WXYZ.com reports. Biden was supposed to be here yesterday, but due to bad weather, his trip was rescheduled.
Biden’s trip goes with a larger plan to build-out more funding in the COVID-19 vaccination efforts. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is planned to join Biden on the tour, according to the article.
Whitmer toured the Pfizer facility earlier this month to learn more about the ongoing vaccination efforts.
The Pfizer facility is a global manufacturing campus in Kalamazoo, where it shipped the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in late December, according to a press release.
“This virus has challenged all of us in nearly every way imaginable, and yet through it all, the people of our state have stepped up and demonstrated the type of resilience, innovation and grit that defines us as Michiganders,” said Whitmer in a press release. “Watching the first doses of Pfizer’s safe, effective vaccine roll onto the trucks from its Kalamazoo facility last year filled everyone watching with a shared sense of pride in calling Michigan home. We are working to ensure equitable distribution of the safe and effective vaccine and I encourage everyone to continue making a plan to get vaccinated and to keep wearing their mask until the pandemic is over. Together, we can and will end this pandemic once and for all.”
Earlier this week during a CNN town hall, Biden mentioned said there would be enough doses to vaccinate all Americans by mid-summer, according to the article.
“By the end of July of this year. When we came into office, there where only 50 million doses that were available. We have now, by the end of July will have over 600 million doses, enough to vaccinate every single American,” he said.
Also today, the president plans to meet with G7 leaders, where he’s expected to pledge $4 billion for a vaccine program, according to the article.
In an effort to eliminate COVID-19, the state has developed a comprehensive vaccination strategy centered around vaccinating at least 70 percent of Michiganders age 16 and older as soon as possible. The state plans to administer 50,000 vaccinations per day when there is an adequate supply of vaccine available to do so.
The Pfizer’s global manufacturing site in Kalamazoo was developed in 2018 through the Good Jobs for Michigan program and comes after the Biden Administration announced yesterday additional steps to increase the vaccine supply to states to 10.5 million doses nationwide.
To date, just over 1.65 million Michiganders have been vaccinated.
Whitmer said during a press conference earlier this week that vaccine rollout in Michigan is “picking up steam.”
“We are making headway of our goal to equitably vaccinate 70% of Michiganders ages 16 and up,” she said during the press conference.
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