FOX VALLEY, Wis. (WBAY) – Tonight we learn more about how the counties in the southern part of the WBAY viewing area will launch the next phase of COVID-19 vaccinations. I told you for the first time earlier this week that the state has clarified the path to phase 1b vaccination, which will begin on Monday, January 25, for anyone over the age of 65.
It has been only a few hours since the Fond du Lac County Health Department announced plans to host the first COVID-19 vaccination clinic on January 27 at the county fair, the 1,000 meetings available to be held.
According to health officer Kim Mueller, “We plan to have 20 vaccinations to be there and we plan for each person to last about ten minutes, so we have 20 people to pass every ten minutes. ”
Mueller told Action 2 News that there were at least 2,000 other people who called the health department, which is now on a waiting list. Thomas Conley is one of those people, but instead of calling the health department, he just showed up to try to get an appointment. “They told me it would be a matter of weeks, but they would call me when the next opening was and then set a time for me to come in,” says Conley.
With approximately 19,000 Fond du Lac residents, age 65 or older, Mueller hopes to add more clinics as vaccine doses become available.
The same goes for ThedaCare, which announced on Thursday that it will start distributing the group 1b vaccine next week. “There are approximately 70,000 people over the age of 65 in ThedaCare,” says Dr. Mark Cockley, medical director.
In addition to its hospitals, vaccinations will also be offered at Encircle Health on the north side of Appleton, with plans to open additional clinics throughout the advancing system.
Thedacare asks those who are eligible to register on its website, but tells us it will try to vaccinate those at higher risk first. Dr. Cockley adds: “Looking at them and how do we start pushing them and knowing that there may be 5,000 on that list as numbers? Knowing that we only have a thousand vaccines, how do we prioritize, how do we make people? If you are part of that group, it may be your first income / first served in the way you sign up, but as we continue to expand this, providing the quick immunization capability as soon as we receive the vaccine to go through this. ”
Both ThedaCare and Fond du Lac County tell us that they will find out on Friday how many doses of vaccine they will receive next week. As these numbers increase, both entities say they will vaccinate to capacity to get through people faster.
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