Michigan residents have so far received 2 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. | Unsplash/CDC
Michigan residents have so far received 2 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. | Unsplash/CDC
Because Michigan has recently announced that it has now administered over 2 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to residents, it is worth reviewing how Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s statements regarding when the state will return to normalcy have changed over time, according to Michigan Capitol Confidential.
“What we’re trying to do is get people to do the right thing for the right reasons,” Whitmer said at a July 9 press conference. “And the right reasons are-- a mask is, without a vaccine, without a cure, a mask is the safest way to protect yourself from the spread of COVID-19, to protect your family from the spread of COVID-19, to protect your neighbors and coworkers, and to protect our economy from another potential step backwards.”
“Until there is a coronavirus vaccine, we must do everything we can in our power to protect one another," Whitmer said at an Aug. 25 press conference. "Nobody is immune to this virus.”
“Until there is a vaccine that is widely available and has efficacy and is safe, or until we have better therapeutics, we are going to have to continue to mask up," Whitmer said at an Oct. 6 press conference.
Now that there is an actual vaccine available, the message of when the state will return to normal seems to have changed. On Feb. 19, Whitmer retweeted a meme from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) that reads, “Until we all are vaccinated, we all need to wear a mask.”
It is currently unknown if Whitmer has decided to change her policy. To add further confusion to the message, Health Department officials state that there are no plans to make the vaccine mandatory, and there will certainly be a percentage of residents who decide not to receive a vaccine.
There are also potentially millions of Michigan residents who don't need the vaccine yet. There have been 603, 375 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the state, reported Michigan.gov. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that for every person who gets a positive COVID-19 test, there are approximately 4.6 people who have contracted the virus but had few or no symptoms and were not tested. Research by the New England Journal of Medicine indicates that this brings immunity to the virus that lasts at least six to nine months.
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