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60% of Michiganders vaccinated, but rate varies by region

man in a mask gets a vaccine from health care worker in a mask
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Michigan has reached a vaccination rate of 60% for a first dose of COVID-19 vaccines. That's in the population aged 16 and older.

Ten days ago [June 1], there was a major loosening of economic restrictions, with Michigan fully lifting outdoor capacity limits. Indoor places can have 100% capacity on July 1.

Six months after the first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine were administered, Michigan has reached a milestone in the fight against the coronavirus. 60% of state residents 16 years and up have gotten at least one vaccine shot.

But the rate varies a lot place to place. Near Monroe, Battle Creek, Flint, Saginaw, and other areas, fewer than half of people have gotten a first shot.

“If we could can hit 60% by August, that would be quite an accomplishment,” said Kathy Moore, Muskegon County’s Public Health Officer.

She says people between the ages of 20 and 40 are the largest group of people unwilling to get a COVID shot.

“You know if I had to zero in on anything, I just think there is an overall distrust of government,” she said.

Which Moore says, is fine. Don’t take the government’s word for it. But do ask your primary care provider, your doctor, what they recommend when it comes to the vaccine.

The highest vaccination rates are in counties in northwest Michigan and in Washtenaw County.

Sixty percent of Michiganders aged 16 and up have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. It’s a welcome milestone. But the vaccination rate varies wildly across the state.

In Detroit, only one in three people have gotten a shot. In Monroe County only 38% of people have.

Muskegon County’s at almost half of people. But Public Health Officer Kathy Moore says it would be quite an accomplishment to reach 60%t in Muskegon County by August.

“Here in Muskegon County we have quite a way to go. The month of May even in high positivity numbers our vaccination percentages have only increased by fractions of a percentage each day or every two days.”

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Lindsey Smith helps lead the station'sAmplify Team. She previously served as Michigan Public's Morning News Editor, Investigative Reporter and West Michigan Reporter.
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