MICHIGAN — Within 24 hours of opening registrations for Michiganders to get in line for COVID-19 vaccine appointment at upcoming Ford Field mass vaccination clinics, Meijer has registered more than 35,000 people.

Registrations opened at 4 p.m. Monday, March 15. The company immediately saw an extremely high volume of people register to get a shot at the clinics.

Meijer says the registry has grown by 2,000 people per hour on Tuesday. Since launching its registry system for vaccine shots at its pharmacies in January, Meijer has registered more than 1.7 million people for the vaccine across the Midwest.

“Our stores and pharmacies have played a pivotal role throughout the pandemic – helping customers at the store, building an online vaccine registry and administering more than 201,000 doses to Michiganders so far,” Meijer President and CEO Rick Keyes said. “I couldn’t be prouder of our quick response, but the work isn’t done. We’re excited to bring that technology – and our expert teams – to Ford Field to support the state of Michigan and FEMA in this critical endeavor.”

Michigan residents wanting to register for an appointment once vaccines are available to them can text EndCovid to 75049 and select Ford Field as the location. People can also register by visiting clinic.meijer.com/register/CL2021 or calling the MDHHS COVID-19 Hotline at 888-535-6136 (press 1). There, people also have the option to register for a different Meijer clinic near them. Invitations to the vaccine clinics will be sent directly to registrants later this week. 

Adults over 16 with underlying conditions that put them at high risk for COVID-19 complications can begin getting shots on March 22. All other adults over 16 become eligible April 5. Meijer plans to focus on sending those invitations to individuals based on the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) to vaccinate those most vulnerable in Detroit, which is the hardest hit city in Michigan, as well as in Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties.

Meijer will also manage the check-in process for those receiving vaccines at Ford Field, provide onsite pharmacists for clinical review and vaccine security and stability, deploy IT development teams and infrastructure, coordinate data submission to the Michigan Care Improvement Registry and preserve the patient’s immunization record.

The retailer’s goal is to register, schedule and submit the data for 5,000 vaccinations per day.

Earlier this year, Meijer was named a federal retail pharmacy partner in Michigan and has since been named as a partner in Indiana, Wisconsin and Ohio. To date, the retailer has conducted more than 2,060 clinics large and small, administering 309,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.