WI COVID-19 vaccination record set to launch at the end of March 1st

MADISON, Wis. – A state register of COVID-19 vaccines touted as a one-stop shop for people seeking vaccines in Wisconsin has been set to launch later in the day, Monday, March 1.

The registration announced last month was due to go on the same day that teachers, daycare centers and others in a group of about 700,000 became eligible for the vaccine and were struggling to find out where they would be vaccinated.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services said last month that registration would begin on Monday and be a “central place for people to know where and when they can be vaccinated and to schedule an appointment.” The registry was not working on Monday afternoon, but a health department spokeswoman said it would be working by the end of the day.

“The site will initially target our citizens in the vicinity of our state-based vaccination centers,” said department spokeswoman Elizabeth Goodsitt.

The state was not widely announcing the registration until counties using it currently work on waiting lists, she said. The state is working with about a dozen local health departments to ensure that the registry works as expected. The state health department already has a website that contains a searchable map of current vaccine providers, but there is no way for people to register or book appointments.

The record would go on the air the same day that teachers and others joined frontline health professionals and those over 65 as eligible for the vaccine.

Other newly eligible children are caregivers; bus drivers and other public transport workers; public service workers; grocery workers and others in the food chain; people enrolled in Medicaid long-term care programs; 911 dispatchers; mink farmers; prisoners; non-essential health professionals; and employees in shared housing situations, such as condominiums, student dormitories and prisons.

State health officials said they were prioritizing teachers, as some large districts that have been closed for face-to-face learning since last year, including Madison, plan to reopen this month.

The difficulty in finding vaccinators has been a frustration across the country, with people having to browse a network of local providers to determine who has the doses available. When plans for the Wisconsin registry were announced on February 18, Governor Tony Evers said it “would make it easier for the public to get vaccinated and help vaccinators track available supplies”.

It has been described as a place where people can answer a variety of questions to determine whether they are eligible to be vaccinated and make an appointment. For those ineligible, or if there was no appointment, the registration should put people on a waiting list. A hotline for people to call for help was also promised to be available on Monday, but it had not yet been launched.

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More than 54% of Wisconsin residents age 65 and older received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. As of Sunday, 16.4% of Wisconsin’s population had received at least one dose, ranking the state 19th, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was ahead of the national average of 15%.

In Wisconsin, 8.5% of the population, more than 492,000 people, received both doses. More than 912,000 people received at least one injection, according to the state health department.

Last week, 233,888 doses of the vaccine were administered in Wisconsin, the maximum in any week since vaccinations began, the health department said. That was about 16,000 more doses than the previous peak established in the week of January 31.

More vaccine is about to enter the supply chain in Wisconsin and other states with Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine being approved over the weekend. State health officials did not have an immediate estimate of how many doses they expected from this supplier or when they would arrive.