A 33-year-old Bucks executive. Alex Lasry receives COVID vaccine early

A 33-year-old Milwaukee Bucks executive and billionaire’s son received the coronavirus vaccine this week at a nursing home in Milwaukee, though he is not part of a currently eligible group in Wisconsin

MADISON, Wisconsin – Alex Lasry, a 33-year-old Milwaukee Bucks executive and son of a billionaire, received the coronavirus vaccine this week at a nursing home in Milwaukee, although he did not part of a group currently eligible for vaccines in Wisconsin.

“This week I was vaccinated!” Lasry tweeted on Friday after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported it. “My wife got a call from her uncle who works at a facility that had extra doses that were going to be wasted if not used immediately. With Lauren early in her pregnancy, we wanted to make sure that our home and the whole community is safe for everyone.

Lasry, a New York native and hedge fund manager, plans to run for the US Senate in Wisconsin in 2022. He also served as the host committee chair for the 2020 Democratic National Convention, which was awarded to Milwaukee but has moved. online due to the pandemic.

Lasry, the son of Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry, tweeted that his vaccination was “a fluke, but I’m incredibly grateful.” Alex Lasry told the newspaper that his wife’s uncle who called about the vaccine was the Rabbi of Ovation Chai Point Senior Living.

“It’s safe, healthy and how we’re all going to finally get out of this pandemic,” he tweeted. “As the rollout continues, if available, please do not waste vaccines! To get vaccinated!”

Gov. Tony Evers said in an update on Wisconsin’s immunization efforts Friday that state health officials are encouraging providers to use whatever vaccines they have available.

“They should just put him in someone’s arm,” Evers said.

As for Lasry, Evers said he was not sure what happened. Evers, 69, said he was waiting for his doctor to contact him to schedule an appointment for his first vaccine, as they became available to everyone over 65 in Wisconsin from Monday. .

He said he was waiting for his doctor to contact him to make an appointment for his first injection.

Lasry said he was not given special treatment because of his position with the Bucks, his political aspirations or his father’s wealth.

“It has nothing to do with anything,” Lasry told the newspaper. “Honestly, if I weren’t married to Lauren, I don’t know if I would have gotten a call or been aware.

Evers said he would rather see providers administer the vaccine outside of priority phases rather than let it go to waste, saying the number of doses given outside of protocols will represent a tiny percentage of all inoculations.

Deputy Secretary of the State Department for Health Services Julie Willems Van Dijk said sometimes providers could get more doses from individual vials than expected and no one wanted to waste vaccine. Many providers maintain waiting lists of people they can call quickly if doses end up exceeding appointments, she said.

“We don’t want a wasted dose,” she says. “We need all these doses in the guns. This is how it can happen, even with excellent planning. “

All vaccine suppliers have signed an agreement to deliver doses according to the state’s priority phases, Van Dijk said. If providers perpetually violate the guidelines, state officials will talk to them and may decide to stop sending those providers doses, she said.

“We have spoken in a number of places and have seen behavioral changes about it,” she said. “(But) there is no way we can control every vaccine that is put into an arm at the end of the day.”