Vaccine Finder 2021 Covid-19

On April 29, 2021 the office for the Governor of the state of Michigan emailed an announcement to residents about vaccine uptake rates that would be used to relax the current restrictions on business and social contact. The name for this campaign of public participation to drive the return to normal life is called the \u2018MI\u202fVacc\u202fto Normal\u2019\u202fplan, a play on words for "Back to Normal." Part of the email included a link to the "Vaccine Finder" which allows a person to set the distance (radius) from a specific Z.I.P. code; for example "all sites with [selected vaccine maker] supply of vaccine within 5 miles of zip code 49505," shown in this illustration of two screenshots on April 29.

In the first phase of vaccinations of January 2021 it was essential workers and first-responders, along with elderly and people with compromised immune systems who were among the population at highest risk of serious reaction to the virus. Then, the threshold ages were adjusted for younger and younger cohorts until in Michigan it was the first week of April that anybody 16 years old and older who became eligible for vaccine doses. By the end of April the most willing residents had received doses to reach 49% of all adults in the state having received at least 1 of the 2 doses (but Johnson and Johnson uses 1-dose only). To vaccinate hesitant and beyond that, to vaccinate skeptics and anti-vaccination residents, will be difficult unless personal relationships and trusted word-of-mouth can bring those arms to the needles

While a large part of the state is accustomed to smartphone applications and online computer appointment systems, there are many others who would rather telephone their healthcare provider or wait for a pop-up vaccination event near their workplace or home. So this online "vaccination finder" is a living, interactive convenience for many, but not all unvaccinated residents to make use of.