Michigan's pleas for extra vaccines will likely go unanswered

Gretchen Whitmer.
(Image credit: Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images)

Michigan has emerged as the United States' major coronavirus hot spot, but despite a rising number of infections, it looks unlikely that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) will receive the extra COVID-19 vaccines she's requesting from the Biden administration.

While vaccines are a game-changer and the clearest ticket out of the pandemic for the U.S., their protection likely wouldn't take effect in time to quell Michigan's current surge, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky suggested Monday during a press briefing. "I think if we tried to vaccinate our way out of what is happening in Michigan, we would be disappointed that it took so long for the vaccine to work," she said.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.