About 2 million Wisconsin residents with health conditions eligible for COVID-19 vaccine as of March 29

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MADISON, Wisconsin – People aged 16 and over with certain medical conditions will be next to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Wisconsin.

The state’s Department of Health Services said 2-3 million Wisconsinites would be eligible for vaccinations at the end of March. Indeed, state health officials have identified twenty medical conditions that increase the risk of serious illness from the virus.

The medical conditions of eligible persons are as follows:

  • Asthma (moderate to severe)
  • Cancer
  • Cerebrovascular disease (affects blood vessels and blood supply to the brain)
  • Chronic kidney disease
  • COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
  • Cystic fibrosis
  • Down syndrome
  • Heart disease, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, or cardiomyopathies
  • Hypertension or high blood pressure
  • Immunosuppressed condition (weakened immune system) due to a solid organ transplant, blood or bone marrow transplant, immune deficiencies, HIV, the use of corticosteroids or the use of other weakening drugs immune system
  • Liver disease
  • Neurological conditions, such as dementia
  • Obesity (body mass index [BMI] from 30 to 39 kg / m2)
  • Overweight (BMI 25 to 29 kg / m2)
  • Pregnancy
  • Pulmonary fibrosis (having damaged or scarred lung tissue)
  • Severe obesity (BMI 40 kg / m2 or more)
  • Sickle cell anemia
  • Diabetes mellitus type 1 or 2
  • Thalassemia (a type of blood disorder)

Gov. Tony Evers said Wisconsin was preparing to turn the page on the pandemic by massively expanding those eligible to get vaccinated.

“We are ready to end this pandemic and we are well positioned to do so,” Evers said.

The list of medical conditions included in Phase 1C of the state’s distribution plan is exhaustive. Anyone 16 years of age or older with asthma, cancer, Down syndrome, heart and lung disease and many more is eligible.

“It means a little bit of freedom,” said Elodie Ontala of Milwaukee.

Ontala was thrilled to learn that people like her who are living with sickle cell disease will soon be able to get vaccinated.

“It’s a little less scary knowing that the vaccine will add a layer of protection to someone like me who has spent the last year indoors,” she said.

Sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disorder that affects 100,000 African Americans in the United States. Ontala said she suffers from pain every day as a result of her illness.

Sickle cell

Michael Conroy / AP

In this photo from Thursday, May 12, 2016, blood samples taken from a newborn at Community Hospital North are displayed in the nursery at Community Hospital North in Indianapolis on Thursday, May 12, 2016. Some 4 million newborns in the United States will have blood drawn this year to screen them for serious inherited diseases such as sickle cell anemia, which can cause organ damage, and the metabolic disease phenylketonuria, or PKU, which can lead to mental disorders. (AP Photo / Michael Conroy)

“Because I already don’t have oxygen in my body, I don’t have the strength in my body to fight something like the coronavirus,” she said.

Pregnant women and those considered overweight will also be eligible as of March 29.

DHS Assistant Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk said eligible people would not need to provide proof of their medical condition to their vaccinator.

“Some vaccinators can take people at their word, others may want them to sign a simple form that certifies that ‘yes, I am a person who suffers from one of these conditions’,” he said. she declared.

CDC

David Goldman / AP

FILE – This file photo from November 19, 2013 shows a logo of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the agency’s federal headquarters in Atlanta. On Monday, November 16, 2020, the CDC released new guidelines indicating that new mothers can breastfeed if they have COVID-19 or suspect they have the virus. (AP Photo / David Goldman, file)

While DHS follows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for qualifying medical conditions, the state is defying CDC advice for the remainder of Phase 1C.

The CDC recommends including “other essential workers” such as restaurants, gas stations, construction workers and many other industries. Willems Van Dijk said those workers will have to wait until May, when the vaccine is expected to be available for everyone 16 and over.

“We still don’t have 5.8 million vaccines or even 4.6 million vaccines, or all adults. So we still need to balance those most at risk with the vaccine supply, ”she said.

Those currently eligible in Phase 1B include teachers, child care workers, grocery store workers, transit workers, and people enrolled in Medicaid long-term care programs.

coronavirus

John Minchillo / AP

FILE – In this photo from March 11, 2020, a lab technician prepares samples from COVID-19 patients for semi-automatic testing at Northwell Health Labs in Lake Success, NY The first case of the South African variant of the coronavirus has discovered in New York state A resident of the state, Governor Andrew Cuomo, said Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021. The South African variant case involved a resident of Nassau County on Long Island. The sequencing was performed at the Pandemic Response Lab of Opentrons Labworks Inc., a commercial lab similar to this one based in New York City, and verified at the Wadsworth Center in Albany. (AP Photo / John Minchillo, file)

Milwaukee County, meanwhile, says it is working hard to get vaccine doses to those who are eligible and want one. You can check out the latest information on this effort here.

Frontline essential workers, members of Medicaid long-term care programs, and essential health care workers who do not live or work in Milwaukee can now book appointments online at milwaukee.gov/covidvax or in calling 414-286-6800.

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