GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – As the state opens up COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to everyone 16 and older, local health leaders are feeling a bit more optimistic about tackling the pandemic.
Vaccine supply continues to rise in Wisconsin as the demand again increases and every adult is now eligible to receive their shots.
“Last week’s allocation numbers that are arriving put us at a really good, healthy allocation. I looked at appointment slots today, and we still have plenty available. So I feel really good about it,” said Prevea Health President Ashok Rai. “A little over 12,000 doses for the state – just for Prevea sites. That’s one of our larger allocation days, and it puts us close to capacity. And if the state’s doing that, they’re probably doing that throughout the state so I feel good about where the allocations are going.”
Rai says they won’t meet that demand in the first five days, but as they move forward, the goal will be to get a good portion of the population inoculated throughout May. A recent CDC report claims that herd immunity could be reached by sometime in July, but Rai thinks Wisconsin could beat that timeline.
“If everybody wants a shot in Wisconsin, we’ll probably be far earlier than July. Given the mass vaccination clinics and some of the rural things we’re doing in the state,” Rai said.
The 65 and older population is nearing or crossing the 80% mark in many counties around the area, and Rai says it took about 4-6 weeks to get to that point with a good chunk of that done in the first four weeks. Phase 1B saw a similar timeline.
So, judging by the timing in those initial groups, Rai thinks it could take about 6-8 weeks for 80% of all people to get at least their first dose.
So as the vaccine allocations rise and weather improves, Rai has a few new recommendations.
“Get outside. [That’s] probably the biggest recommendation. Being indoors with unvaccinated people, a large group gathering, is pretty risky. You want to go into a masked environment if you’re indoors and it’s a large group…It’s really important right now, if going outside feels good, get vaccinated. Because then we can all feel good for pretty much every single kind of environment by mid-summer,” Rai said. “The CDC is making great recommendations around travel. [That’s a] good reason to get vaccinated. I think we’ll see a lot more those recommendations going forward, basically saying if you’ve been vaccinated, this is what you can do. Hopefully people understand that means get vaccinated, so we all can do that.”
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