A healthcare worker handles a tray of COVID-19 vaccines. (PHOTO: UW Health)
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The current level of COVID-19 vaccination is doing nothing to combat the spread.
So says Prevea CEO Dr. Ashok Rai; he says they need to expand vaccination outside of the healthcare field as soon as possible.
“They’re ready,” Dr. Rai said. we’re just waiting for the government’s permission, the state’s permission to do that and the supply chain to be more robust.”
Meanwhile the state department of health services explains the hold up.
“We want to make sure we have a substantial plurision of 1A done before we move to 1B. At a point and time we think we have most of 1A done and we’ve exhausted that then we will move into 1B.”
That’s Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk.
The state is still working to get its first group of people vaccinated before moving to the second group.
The group includes healthcare workers and nursing home residents.
“Let me be clear. I did not say that we have to finish every person in 1A before we go to 1B,” Dijk said.
But vaccinations take time, and Rai says what he’s hearing from those prolonging testing only makes the situation worse.
“Some people just don’t want to know they’re positive so they can go ahead with and go on with the activities they have planned,” Dr. Rai said.
Although the holidays are behind us, guidance in November is the same guidance now: mask up, spread out, stay home if you’re sick,
“And get tested, get tested, get tested,” Dr. Rai said.
Rai adds it’s more than people wanting to gather that are holding off on testing.
He says some people don’t want to miss work.
He still advises people to get tested and for employers to work with their employees if they get sick.
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