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Michigan nursing homes ordered to offer on-site booster shot

Booster shots are now recommended for millions of Americans.
Alejandra Villa Loarca
/
Newsday via Getty Images
Booster shots are now recommended for millions of Americans.

LANSING, MI (AP)— Michigan’s health director is ordering nursing homes to offer on-site booster shots to residents who aren't up to date on the COVID-19 vaccine.

The facilities must comply within 30 days.

About 75 percent of eligible nursing home residents have gotten a booster dose. Governor Gretchen Whitmer previously set a goal of getting 95 percent of eligible residents a booster by the end of January.

Elizabeth Hertel, director of the state health department, said Thursday that vaccinations are even more important because the rapidly spreading Omicron variant can more readily evade people’s immunity from vaccines and past infections.

The order doesn't require nursing home residents to be vaccinated.

The Associated Press is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering, supplying a steady stream of news to its members, international subscribers and commercial customers. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, it's a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members.