Piling onto a recent analysis that Michigan‘s Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer managed the most ineffective coronavirus response in the nation, the state’s clunky vaccine rollout may have needlessly cost 2,500 lives, USA Today reported.
Whitmer sent Michigan’s coronavirus vaccines to public health departments, which hosted mass vaccine events at large venues, like colleges and stadiums.
The approach failed in comparison to nearby—and politically similar—Minnesota, which sent coronavirus vaccines to doctor’s offices and hospitals for distribution.
Michigan’s overall vaccination rate lagged behind Minnesota through March.
Whitmer particularly failed in getting vaccines to elderly people—the only demographic that faces measurable risk from COVID-19—and to low-income blacks, whom leftists desire to vaccinate in greater numbers as part of a nationwide social-justice project.
Since March, vaccines developed during the Trump administration have been widely distributed and available upon request for most Americans.
But while other states began putting the coronavirus behind them, Michigan suffered from nearly 2,700 preventable deaths.
Elizabeth Hertel, the recently appointed director of Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services, said she still thinks the state pursued the right vaccination policies.
Hertel said the agencies tasked with distributing doses were “best equipped in certain regions to handle” the state’s vaccination effort.
“One of the things that we were trying to focus on was the ability to make sure that people had access, and going through the health systems may not have always been the most efficient way to do that,” Hertel said.
For some Michiganders, she claimed, “there isn’t a health system.”
Despite poor outcomes, Hertel said local health bureaucracies “are well suited to reach minority and vulnerable populations.”
Yet, she admitted that the policies did not necessarily prioritize positive health outcomes as much as progressive ideology.
“We also recognize that these efforts to address equity sometimes do not yield the high numbers” that other methods might, “but we strongly believe this is an important strategy to address equity.”
Noble intentions notwithstanding, the Michigan Freedom Fund, a conservative watchdog, blamed the state’s slow vaccine rollout on Whitmer’s incompetence and negligence.
“The Governor snuck to Florida and the members of her cabinet responsible for the state’s vaccine rollout and her health department went on secret vacations in Florida and Alabama,” said MFF Executive Director Tori Sachs.
“Whether it’s importing COVID into nursing homes or botching the vaccine rollout, Whitmer’s disastrous handling of the pandemic has devastated seniors, families and communities who needed her most,” Sachs said. “Each of these families deserves answers—and accountability.”
