MADISON, Wisconsin – All Wisconsin residents age 65 and older became eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine on Monday. That is an estimated 700,000 people.
But the state is receiving only about 70,000 doses of the vaccine a week. Health officials believe it will take several weeks to reach everyone 65 and older who want a vaccine, as many in group 1A still need to be vaccinated.
Because of this huge difference in supply and demand, hospital systems are prioritizing this group in different ways.
UnityPoint Health-Meriter is scheduling people 65 and older with comorbidities first, including those with heart and lung diseases like COPD.
“We are just randomly selecting people with comorbidities and contacting them,” said David Childers, vice president of clinical operations at UnityPoint Health-Meriter.
Childers said there are about 6,300 UnityPoint Health-Meriter patients who are in the category over 65.
“We are trying to match the number of people we contact with our ability to vaccinate and also to make sure that we have enough vaccine supplies. So it’s kind of a weekly process, ”said Childers.
SSM Health is taking a different approach, prioritizing people aged 75 and over first. Then they will come into contact with people aged 65 to 74.
“We have more than 118,000 patients in our system aged 65 and over alone, so we knew it wouldn’t be possible to vaccinate everyone aged 65 and over in the first week,” said Mo Kharbat, VP of Pharmacy Services at SSM Health.
Kharbat said the health system has increased the capacity to deliver 20,000 doses a week, but they are not getting enough vaccine to do so. They have been doing about 1,000 injections a day.
Kharbat said that all SSM Health employees eligible for group 1A who wanted a vaccine received it, but there are still about 3,000 community health workers who are still waiting. They will have priority before people aged 65 and over.
Public Health Madison and Dane County also have 3,000 people in 1A to vaccinate yet.
“We are not getting enough vaccine to keep track of the number of people who can be vaccinated,” said Doug Voegelli, PHMDC’s operations leader.
Uninsured people will have to go through PHMDC to be vaccinated. To enter the list, you must complete a survey.
But Voegelli said it could take a few weeks before anyone filling out the survey gets a vaccine because PHMDC is receiving about 1,000 first doses a week.
When the time comes, PHMDC will be able to prioritize the communities that were most impacted by COVID-19.
“This may mean that we are looking at race, ethnicity and also social vulnerability. So, these are some of the things we can use to help prioritize the population over 65 (community) to ensure that we are reaching the most at-risk populations, ”said Vorgelli.
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