PORTAGE, MI -- After accompanying President Joe Biden on a tour of the Pfizer vaccine plant in Portage, U.S. Sen. Gary Peters said getting the vaccine into rural areas will be an important step for Michigan and the nation.
He is advocating for mobile vaccine stations to reach people who might not be able to make it to centers.
Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, spoke about the issue with media in a Zoom call following the president’s visit to Pfizer. Peters and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer were among a group that joined the president.
“One issue I have raised with him before and I will continue to raise is we have to make it easier for folks in rural areas to have access to this vaccine,” he said. “And that means deploying more mobile vaccine stations, to get mobile sites that are created so rural areas have access to the vaccine.”
Peters mentioned using trucks and vans to reach smaller communities and rural areas. He said Biden shares the concern.
He also talked about the ability of Pfizer, Moderna and other vaccine makers to provide vaccine doses to other countries.
“Clearly the priority right now is to get this vaccine into the arms of Americans and do that as quickly as possibly, but there is truly global demand and it’s important for us to be shipping these vaccines to other countries,” he said.
He said it’s important to get coronavirus vaccines around the globe, in part, to help prevent variant strains from taking hold.
“So we’re in a race right now,” Peters said. “We’re in a race to immunize as many people as we can in the United States first and then around the world to make sure this virus can’t continually mutate and put people at risk in the future.”
Peters said the president’s visit to Pfizer helped showcase the talents of Michigan science and industry.
“We should all be proud as Michiganders that this is happening in our state,” he said. “We are playing a key role in getting though this pandemic. As this (vaccine) production continues to ramp up, clearly the end is in sight.”