President Joe Biden commended six states for their vaccination efforts, including Minnesota.
Saying they’re “meeting the moment,” Biden invited Gov. Tim Walz, whom he called a “stand-up guy,” and five other governors for a roundtable Tuesday to discuss their strategies.Three Republicans and three Democrats were represented including the governors for Utah, Ohio, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Maine.
In Minnesota, 60% of eligible adults 16 and older have received at least one dose; 2.2 million have completed their series, while three counties -- Hennepin, Cook and Olmstead -- have reached 70 percent of adults with at least one dose.
“I do think making that connection of what it means to get vaccinated and get it done quickly (is important),” Walz said. “We saw in MInnesota, along with Michigan, a spike here recently in this latest surge around the B117 variant. But because of the availability of the vaccine that got out, we were able to blunt that. What that meant is that hospitals did not get overwhelmed. We didn't have to close back down many of the things we were doing. The important thing is far fewer died from that.”
Walz credited trusted partners like the Mayo Clinic to validate data and research as well as the approach of the state’s 11 sovereign tribal nations. He said officials tapped into strategies that made Minnesota the leader not just in voter turnout but in census participation.
Walz repeated what he’s said locally: downplaying the narrative of vaccine hesitancy and focusing on delivering the vaccine to people easily.
“It’s not assuming these people are hesitant, they’re ideologically opposed, it’s trying to understand where they’re at, what are the differences?” he said. “Some are going to respond differently to different groups. And candidly, the outreach, the buses, the pulling into parking lots.”
Biden has set a target of vaccinating 70 percent of adults by July 4.
“It really does get down to for that person who is allegedly an anti-vaxxer, in many cases, is convenience,” Biden said.
