Beaumont Health has been on the leading edge of the COVID-19 pandemic since it began last March. We have cared for more COVID-19 patients than any other health system in Michigan. Now, we will help lead our communities out of the pandemic by providing
the vaccine on a very large scale.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determines the priority rankings for the vaccine and works closely with the State of Michigan. Beaumont, and other entities, must follow the government’s guidelines. For example, the State is coordinating
with CVS and Walgreens for the vaccination of all Michigan residents in long term care facilities. These two companies are being provided the Moderna vaccine as it is more easily transported than the Pfizer vaccine that Beaumont has been given by
the State.
To keep our health system functioning for both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients, we are proud to now offer vaccinations to all Beaumont employees. Some of our health care professionals are on the frontline, and others are in critically important roles
supporting our frontline teams.
Beaumont has been vaccinating about 1,600 people per day. We will increase our capacity to more than 3,200 per day starting Monday, Jan. 4. We plan to vaccinate all our providers, employees and affiliates (medical, nursing, pharmacy, respiratory therapy
and other allied health professional students doing rotations, volunteers, Beaumont Urgent Care, affiliated private practice physician office staff) within the next couple weeks. Our goal is to vaccinate as many people as we can as quickly as possible.
The national and Michigan issue right now is that vaccine inventories are building up and people are not getting vaccinated quickly enough. We need to keep the vaccine doses moving to more people as fast as possible. Only that will close the door
on this pandemic.
We are communicating with the State on these matters regularly. As soon as we receive state approval, we will move to the next tier of prioritized individuals. We are very committed to keeping our community informed about when we’ll be able to open
our vaccine clinics to all our patients and broader communities. We have the freezers, refrigerators, syringes and staff needed to get this vaccine into as many arms as possible as soon as we receive the appropriate approvals from the state and federal
government. Their mandate to us is to keep vaccinations moving forward.
- John Fox, Beaumont Health President and CEO