BERMAN: “Why are you doing this early?”
WHITMER: “Well, there’s no question that our case numbers have plummeted, our hospitalizations, our mortality rates, our vaccinations are upwards of 61.2%, so we’re really hitting this virus on a lot of fronts and we are in a stronger position now and we thought it made sense to move forward. So it’s an exciting moment after a long, tough year for every one of us.”
BERMAN: “No question you are trending in the right direction, but you had said that the fuller reopening, which you’re doing now, wouldn’t happen until you reached 70% of adults getting one dose. You are not there. You’re just over 61% now.”
WHITMER: “eah, we’re not there. Like a lot of states, we see it trickling, right? We’re still doing vaccinations, we’re meeting people where they are. I have not gotten a lot of help out of my legislature in terms of making sure that we have the strongest program that’s fully supported and fully endorsed, but we’re making great strides and we are in a much stronger position than a lot of other states, we will continue working on that front, meet people where they are, make it easier and easier for people to get vaccinated. And for those of you Americans who are watching, who have not yet gotten vaccinated, I know that there are a lot of people who have questions and we’re working really hard to make sure that people get their questions answered so they know this vaccine is the best way to stay safe, to stay reengaged, to ensure that you’re protected from Delta variants that are spreading quickly all across the globe. And this is a really important metric, but we have made a lot of progress and we will keep working at it.”
BERMAN: “It’s changed my life. I can tell you that right now. I’m sitting two feet away from Brianna Keilar now and I think that’s wonderful. But my question is, you do acknowledge you’ve moved the bar? I mean, the bar before was 70% and now the bar is not, you are at 61%.”
WHITMER: “Like so many things since Coronavirus came to the United States we had to be nimble, we’ve followed the science, we’ve paid attention to the data. We know that people are still getting vaccinated and we have work yet to do on that front, but it was important to recognize that because the case rates are so low right now, we’ve got an opportunity to drop a lot of these mandates that we have all had to abide by, so people can feel the freedom that comes with 61% of our population getting vaccinated. When we get to 70%, we will all be much safer.”