MADISON, Wis. — COVID-19 vaccinations for group 1B started Monday, but that’s only for police and fire department employees.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has still not said who else is in the second group of people eligible for a vaccine, or when they’ll be able to get a shot.
The State Disaster Medical Advisory Committee (SDMAC) Vaccine Subcommittee made their recommendations for who should be in 1B last week. Their list includes people older than 70 years old, people who live in congregate settings such as IRIS and Family Care, homeless or domestic violence shelters, and prisons, and public-facing essential workers such as education and childcare workers and non-frontline healthcare personnel.
It’s up to DHS to look at those recommendations and make the final decision on who gets the vaccine next.
On DHS’s website it says, “After we get more vaccine supply and vaccinate those in Phase 1A, we anticipate that Phase 1B may include persons aged 75 and older and non–health care frontline essential workers.”
But they haven’t said when that will happen.
On Friday, DHS Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk said the committee would make its final decision on who should be in 1B this week, then forward it to the Secretary-designee Andrea Palm and Gov. Tony Evers for final approval. That could mean people in 1B become eligible later this week.
“However, we can’t wait until those decisions are made to begin to plan and prepare for expanding access. So those plans are underway and I think you’ll see expansion to other groups in that 1B category very soon,” DHS Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk said Friday.
She said the state will not wait to finish group 1A before moving to 1B.
“It’s like getting on an airplane. You don’t wait until group A has completely boarded before you open the doors and start letting group B in,” said Willems Van Dijk.
It’s also an issue of supply and planning ahead.
Gov. Evers blames the federal government for not giving the state enough heads up on when more vaccines are coming.
“One of things that would help us know (when phase 1B can state) is if the federal government would be more forthcoming with not only vaccines, but the status of vaccines,” said Evers.
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