The state of Michigan is expanding its COVID-19 vaccination eligibility to adults over the age of 65. The expanded coverage also includes teachers and childcare workers. In West Michigan the distribution is restricted to supply received. Spectrum Health expects to administer more than 21,000 vaccinations this week.
“Demand is truly astronomical as you can imagine.”
Dr. Darryl Elmouchi is President Spectrum Health West Michigan.
“We had over 45,000 surveys completed from Saturday morning until the end of say yesterday. So, in about 36-hours. That is now expanding exponentially. And as you can imagine, the only way to do this is process in a very rapid, large-scale way is to try to make it as digital as we can which is what we’ve done.”
The hospital’s call center has been overwhelmed. The public is asked to schedule a vaccination by logging on to https://www.spectrumhealth.org/covid19/covid-19-vaccine or by downloading the Spectrum Health app and sign up for a MyChart account.
In a news release, Spectrum Health explains, “Per the State of Michigan, essential workers, including teachers and others, should work through their employers to schedule a COVID-19 vaccination.”
Scheduled appointments will take place in Grand Rapids, Greenville, Hastings and Zeeland vaccination clinic locations. There are plans for opening more public vaccination clinics as soon as possible.