Detroit — A majority of southeast Michigan counties are vaccinating residents at twice the rate Detroit is and that gap is threatening to prolong the pandemic in Michigan's largest city and forcing health officials to find alternatives to mass-vaccination sites like the TCF Center and Ford Field.
About 1 in 5, or 21%, of Detroiters have received at least one shot, according to the city's vaccine dashboard, compared to 33% of residents in Macomb County, 40% in suburban Wayne County and 41% in Oakland and Washtenaw counties. Statewide, 37% of all residents have at least one dose.
At the current rate, the city won't be able to reopen by the summer "and there's no reason it shouldn't be able to," Mayor Mike Duggan said this week, although he added "if our vaccine rate is running far less than the surrounding communities, we're not going to make it."