COVID-19 Vaccine Phase 1B Underway in Fox Valley



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FOX VALLEY, Wisconsin (WBAY) – We are learning more tonight about how counties in the southern portion of the WBAY Observation Zone will roll out the next phase of COVID-19 vaccination. We first told you earlier this week that the state paved the way for Phase 1b vaccination to begin on Monday, January 25 for anyone over 65.

It only took a few hours from when the Fond du Lac County Health Department announced plans to host its first COVID-19 vaccination clinic on January 27 at the County Fairgrounds, the 1000 appointments available to fill.

According to health worker Kim Mueller, “We have planned where we have 20 vaccinators who will be there, and we anticipate that each individual will take about ten minutes, so we have 20 people who will be passing every ten minutes. . “

Mueller tells Action 2 News that at least 2,000 more people have called the health department and are now on a waiting list. Thomas Conley is one of those people, but instead of calling the health department, he showed up to try and get an appointment. “They told me it was going to be a matter of maybe even weeks, but they’ll call me when the next opening is and then set a time for me to come in,” Conley said.

With around 19,000 residents of Fond du Lac County belonging to the population 65 or older, Mueller hopes to add more clinics as doses of the vaccine become available.

The same goes for ThedaCare, which announced on Thursday that it would also start distributing the vaccine to Group 1b next week. “In ThedaCare there are approximately 70,000 people aged 65 and over,” says Chief Medical Officer Dr Mark Cockley.

In addition to its hospitals, vaccinations will also be offered at Encircle Health in northern Appleton, with plans to open additional clinics across the system in the future.

Thedacare is asking those who are eligible to register on its website, but tells us it will try to vaccinate those at higher risk first. Dr Cockley adds, “Looking at these and how do we start pushing them away and knowing that number may be 5,000 on this list? Knowing that we only have a thousand vaccines, how to prioritize, how to attract people? If you are in that group, the way you sign up might be first come / first served, but how can we continue to expand that, provide rapid vaccination capability as soon as we get the vaccine to move that forward. “

ThedaCare and Fond du Lac County tell us they will find out on Friday how many doses of the vaccine they will receive the following week. As those numbers increase, both entities say they will vaccinate as much as possible in order to move among people faster.

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