Thousands sign up for vaccine waiting list

Thousands of people across west Michigan are signing up to receive their first doses of the new COVID-19 vaccines, even though most counties don’t have enough supplies to give them out just yet.

Last week, Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced the state would allow people in Phase 1B of the vaccination priority schedule to get inoculated. But Kalamazoo County health officials quickly put out a statement announcing they weren’t ready to move forward due to a lack of adequate supplies of the vaccine.

Nonetheless, the county has opened up a signup form for people interested in being vaccinated.

Currently, only frontline medical workers, and staff and residents of nursing homes are able to be vaccinated immediately. People in Phase 1B can sign up and will be notified when vaccines become available.

Phase 1B includes:

• Essential frontline workers, such as first responders, grocery store employees, and people who work in manufacturing facilities.
• K-12 school staff and childcare workers
• Staff in homeless shelters and corrections facilities
• People 75 years old and older

In a statement released on Monday, the county said it had received 3,900 doses of the coronavirus vaccine and had administered 2,271 of them.

“All vaccine supplies received last week are scheduled for the first and second doses of Phase 1A at this week’s vaccination clinics. We anticipate receiving another vaccine shipment later this week,” said the statement.

The state’s Vaccine Dashboard shows that more than 28,000 doses have been delivered to 11 facilities throughout the county. Those other facilities include the county’s two hospitals, medical centers, and other health care facilities.