“Vaccines are still recommended, they're still available and they're still covered by health insurance.
That’s the message from Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, after federal officials backed off of previous recommendations.
“That has actually led to cases we've been hearing about from different parts of the state where people have been turned away. People who are looking for vaccinations have been turned away with ‘we can't vaccinate you because there's been so much confusion.’”
To clarify Bagdasarian is issuing this statement:
“We believe after reviewing the data and after following the recommendations from national organizations that are experts in these particular groups, including the American College of OB/GYN and American Academy of pediatrics, we continue to recommend COVID-19 vaccination for everyone over the age of six months, including healthy children, and including pregnant women.’
Unless there’s a formal change in recommendations, Bagdasarian says insurance still covers COVID vaccines.
As for tracking the number of cases in Michigan…
“So, a few things we look at: our number of people coming into the emergency department with COVID-19, number of people admitted with COVID-19. We monitor for syndromes so people presenting with Covid- or influenza-like syndromes to healthcare facilities, and then we also look at wastewater surveillance.”
Based on current data, there’s an uptick in southern states, but Michigan doesn’t usually trend upward until school is back in session, with numbers peaking in January or February.
Scheduling for COVID vaccinations is available now.
