Prisoners could get vaccine before some seniors, frontline workers
Prisoners could get vaccine before some seniors, frontline workers
The first phase of Wisconsin s COVID-19 vaccine plan is less than 20% complete. But state health officials are already looking ahead to who gets it next.
MILWAUKEE - The first phase of Wisconsin s COVID-19 vaccine plan is less than 20% complete. But state health officials are already looking ahead to who gets it next. Will you be a part of Phase 1b? The rollout has not gone real smoothly, said Jonathan Temte, Vaccine Subcommittee co-chair.
With just 17% of health care workers and nursing home residents inoculated so far, Phase 1a of the state s COVID-19 vaccine plan is far from over. But the Evers administration is close to submitting a final plan for Phase 1b.
DAVID WAHLBERG
Fewer than 86,000 Wisconsin residents had been vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Tuesday â less than a fifth of those in top priority groups â leading Republican lawmakers to press Democratic Gov. Tony Evers for a speedier rollout as his administration said the effort is ramping up.
âWithout a transparent and efficient plan, the governor is repeating the mistakes he made with unemployment insurance,â state Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, said in a statement, referring to the struggle the state faced resolving a backlog of claims.
Secretary of Health Services Andrea Palm said more than 1,000 providers are registered to give the shots, up from fewer than 50 a month ago, and the state plans to start a mobile vaccination effort this month. The pace of vaccination depends in part on federal shipments, she said.
Debate stirs over next phase of COVID-19 vaccine distribution
Debate stirs over next phase of COVID-19 vaccine distribution
Who is next to get COVID-19 vaccines? Essential workers? The elderly? A panel of state health experts is starting to debate Phase 1B.
MADISON, Wis. - Tens of thousands of health care workers and nursing home residents have already gotten a COVID-19 vaccination. There are still hundreds of thousands left. But after that, who is next?
Some say it ought to be the elderly. Others say younger essential workers should take precedent. But how do you define essential?
Ask almost anyone if their job is essential and they re likely to answer yes.
But only one of seven people will be able to get the vaccine at first.
“The vaccine allocation process is as fair and safe as I can imagine,” Gundersen Health System department director of bioethics and humanities Dr. Tom Harter said.
Harter is on the Wisconsin DHS’s COVID vaccine allocation panel.
That panel takes direction from the vaccine ethics committee.
“The ethics subcommittee has set forth principles and values to say ‘here’s how you should be thinking about allocation plans, ” Harter said.
So why are health care workers at the front of the line?
“Because if health care workers get sick, and they’re taking care of other sick people with COVID-19, then the structure of care begins to diminish and fall apart,” Harter said.