MADISON, Wis. – The vaccine eligibility gates are opening in Wisconsin, but the wait isn’t over.
Gov. Tony Evers and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services announced Tuesday afternoon that anyone 16 and older will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine starting Monday.
“It’s exciting,” said Mo Kharbat, regional vice president of pharmacy services at SSM Health. “It’s great news.”
“It’s a good step forward in the pandemic,” UW Health’s Dr. Matt Anderson said. “On the flip side, there are going to be waits. It is going to be potentially frustrating to be eligible but not (have vaccine) available. We’ve seen it before. I think we’ll see it again going forward here.”
Just because someone can get the vaccine next week doesn’t mean they will.
“There’s going to be a lot more people wanting to get vaccinated than there are going to be shots to give them and capacity to give them at this point,” Anderson said.
According to Anderson, UW Health’s vaccine allotment has stayed flat the past six weeks, and he’s hopeful that will increase.
“All appointments, our 2,340 appointments, got gobbled up in 90 minutes last week,” he said.
SSM Health is still getting between 25 to 30% of the vaccine supply they’re requesting. The health system is averaging about 10,000 to 12,000 vaccinations per week at its 18 vaccination sites throughout the state, managing 15,000 last week. Kharbat said they have the ability to expand that capacity to up to 25,000 or 30,000 a week.
“We can expand our capacity, we can scale up our operations … if the supply is keeping up with the demand,” Kharbat said.
More vaccinators, such as pharmacies, have come on board, leading to a steady increase in distribution as the State divvies up an increase in supply from the federal government.
“Dane County in general is vaccinating more people, so that’s positive,” Anderson said, pointing to about 40,000 shots given last week compared to about 20,000 a week during February in the county.
According to Kharbat, vaccinators usually learn their next week’s allotment on Tuesday nights, which will make a big difference in the availability of appointments in the coming weeks.
“Making the vaccine available to everyone Monday will not have a big impact on our operations unless the vaccine supplies improve,” he said. “If they do, we will go ahead and expand our vaccine clinics fairly quickly starting next week so we can meet this new demand now.”
The prescription for those waiting in queue, health officials say, is a healthy dose of patience.
“Hopefully people will persist and stay with it so we can get as many shots in their arms as soon as we can,” Anderson said.
He imagines vaccination appointments will be tough to book in April, and become a bit more available in May and June.
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