FOX VALLEY, Wis. (WBAY) – We are learning more tonight about how counties in the southern part of the WBAY observation area will implement the next phase of COVID-19 vaccinations. We told you earlier this week that the state has paved the way for Phase 1b vaccination, which would begin on Monday, January 25, for anyone over 65.
It has only taken a few hours since the Fond du Lac County Health Department announced its plans to host its first COVID-19 vaccination clinic on January 27 at the county fairgrounds, the 1,000 appointments available to be completed.
According to health officer Kim Mueller, “We have planned where we will have 20 vaccinators who will be there and we plan for each individual to take about ten minutes, so we have 20 people who will pass every ten minutes. “
Mueller told Action 2 News that there are at least 2,000 more people who called the health department who are now on the waiting list. Thomas Conley is one of those people, but instead of calling the health department, he just showed up to try to make an appointment. “They told me it would take maybe even weeks, but they are going to call me when it’s the next opening and then make an appointment for me to come in,” says Conley.
With some 19,000 residents of Fond du Lac County in the demographic range of 65 and older, Mueller hopes to add more clinics as doses of the vaccine become available.
The same goes for ThedaCare, which announced on Thursday that it will begin distributing the vaccine to group 1b next week. “At ThedaCare there are about 70,000 people aged 65 and over,” said Dr. Mark Cockley, medical director.
In addition to their hospitals, vaccines will also be offered at Encircle Health, on the north side of Appleton, with plans to open additional clinics throughout the system.
Theedacare is asking those who are eligible to register on its website, but tells us that it will try to vaccinate those most at risk first. Dr. Cockley adds: “Looking at them and how do we start to eliminate them and knowing that 5,000 may be on that list as a number? Knowing that we only have a thousand vaccines, how to prioritize, how to seek people? If you are in that group, you may be the first to arrive / first to serve in the way you apply, but as we can continue to expand this, provide rapid immunization capacity as soon as we receive the vaccine to overcome this. “
Both ThedaCare and Fond du Lac County tell us that they will learn on Friday how many doses of the vaccine they will receive the following week. As these numbers increase, both organizations say they will vaccinate to maximum capacity to get through people faster.
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