MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers says FEMA will begin supporting a mass vaccination effort at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee starting this week.
The governor’s office says the effort will hope to give out at least 7,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine every week as part of a partnership between the federal, state and local levels.
“We truly appreciate this much-needed support from our federal partners at FEMA that comes at a critical time when Wisconsin is receiving more vaccine and we need more vaccinators getting shots into arms,” Gov. Evers said in a statement. “This mass vaccination clinic can help with the larger population while allowing our partners at the city and county levels to focus on getting the vaccine to more vulnerable populations in harder to reach areas of their communities.”
The Wisconsin Center was already being used as a mass vaccination site in Milwaukee under the eye of state and local health officials. Operations will transition over to FEMA this week, bringing in more resources support the vaccination effort and allowing local officials to send their resources to other parts of the community.
“The new people and resources help expand our capacity, and, importantly, allows us to redeploy local vaccinators to underserved and under-vaccinated areas of the city,” Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said.
The state is on track to give out its 2 millionth dose of the vaccine on Monday.
Officials in Dane County previously applied to have the Alliant Energy Center be a federal mass vaccination site, but as of last week, had not yet heard back from FEMA.
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