MADISON, WI (WTAQ) — The demand for the COVID-19 vaccine in Wisconsin is radically outpacing supply.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services says they were only able to fulfill a fraction of the vaccine delivery requests in the state last week, the first week in which the vaccine was made available to Wisconsinites over the age of 65.
“We have a terribly difficult situation,” said Deputy DHS Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk. “[We had] nearly 300,000 doses requested and only 27% that we could provide.”
The state is waiting on additional allocation of vaccine from the Federal Government, who is, in turn, waiting on vaccine production to speed up.
Some smaller counties, like Door and Green Lake counties, have complained that their vaccinations are being shorted in favor of larger urban areas. Van Dijk said the distribution is being made equitable, and that even high-volume urban vaccinators aren’t happy.
“Some of those larger systems that had shown us they could give vaccine quickly continue to receive 2,000” said Willems Van Dijk. “They wanted 20,000, so they are not happy either.”
The delay threatens the tentative March 1st start date for teachers to get vaccinated. Willems Van Dijk says that they intend to re-evaluate that start date later this month.
“We’re making great progress,” Willems Van Dijk told reporters on Tuesday. “But there are lots more people to receive vaccine in this group, and we will need to be thinking about where we are in terms of supply.”
That could be bad news for the Green Bay School District, who voted last month not to allow students to return until at least three weeks after the vaccine is made available to teachers. Their tentative start date to begin returning to class is March 29th.
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