Increase in vaccine puts county ahead of schedule

Local school employees and child care workers may be vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus by the end of March, a month earlier than first thought, and two-thirds of Ozaukee County seniors have already received at least one shot against the virus, thanks to an increase in the amount of vaccine available, the county’s top health official said Wednesday.

“We’re way ahead of schedule,” Washington Ozaukee Health Department Interim Director Tyler Weber said.

At the same time, however, the number of active Covid-19 cases in the county has jumped, from five on Feb. 11 to 250 on Tuesday, most likely due to “pandemic fatigue,” he said.

“There’s hope on the horizon with the vaccine and people are tired of the pandemic and letting their guard down a little” by not wearing masks or observing social distancing guidelines, Weber said. “It’s concerning, but it’s also understandable.”

School employees and child care workers became eligible for vaccinations on March 1 and it was announced that a dedicated supply of vaccine would become available to them on March 15. 

Officials originally predicted it would take until the end of April to vaccinate the 6,500 or so school staff members and the so far unknown number of child care workers in the county. 

But Weber said an influx of vaccine from the state and the pairing of schools with vaccinators has speeded up that process significantly.

In the Port Washington-Saukville School District, a clinic coordinated by the county health department and run by Kroger, which owns Pick ’n Save grocery stores and pharmacies, will be set up to immunize staff on Friday, March 26, which is an early release day for students, Supt. Michael Weber said. 

That means that by the end of the month every one of the district’s 400 employees who want to be vaccinated will be able to receive their first shot, he said. 

“When our staff became eligible on March 1, it was doubtful that there was enough vaccine for them, but within the last couple of weeks it seems like more vaccine is finding its way into Ozaukee and Washington counties,” Michael Weber said. “A number of our employees have already been able to find shots, and anyone who registers will be able to get one on March 26, which is tremendous.”

Tyler Weber said it’s up to each district or private school and their assigned vaccinator whether to hold a clinic or to simply send employees to the vaccinator.

The Grafton School District has been paired with Oasis Clinic while the Northern Ozaukee and Cedar Grove-Belgium school districts with Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, Tyler Weber said.

At the same time, the Washington Ozaukee Public Health Department has reopened its online registration system, although instead of allowing users to make shot appointments it gives them the ability to get on a waiting list for vaccinations. The system, which previously allowed those who are eligible for shots to make appointments, was shut down because appointments filled up in seconds.

Only those eligible to receive vaccinations are allowed on the waiting list — frontline health care personnel, police and firefighters, those 65 and older, school staff, licensed child care facility staff, and workers in the food chain.

Being on the waiting list does not guarantee a person will be vaccinated, and it could take several weeks before a person is contacted, a notice on the website says.

About 2,000 people were on the waiting list when his department shut down the online registration, Tyler Weber said. That number has now been pared to just a few hundred, he said.

The number of doses received by his department has jumped from 400 a week to 700, with almost all of that dedicated to vaccinating people 65 and older, Tyler Weber said.

With that and greater availability through other vaccinators, 66% of the county’s 11,000 people in that age group have received at least one shot of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, with the second required dose already allocated to them, he said.

Of the entire county population, those 18 and older, he said, about 23% have received their first dose.

Tyler Weber said he doesn’t see the flow of vaccine slackening.

The increased availability of vaccine has resulted in a collective sigh of relief from Port Washington-Saukville School District employees who every day work among hundreds of students.

“There is definitely a sense of relief,” Port Washington High School teacher Emily O’Brien said. “A lot of teachers have been looking since they became eligible and now a lot of them have been able to get their first shots.”

She and her husband Sean, who is also a Port high teacher, received shots in West Bend. Others have gone to Sheboygan and Milwaukee counties to be vaccinated, and some have been able to get shots at pharmacies in Ozaukee County, she said. 

“There’s kind of a hotline,” O’Brien said. “If someone hears there are shots available at a certain place, they start emailing everyone.”

When teachers have to leave school to get shots, their co-workers are more than happy to cover for them, O’Brien said.

“There’s almost a sense of glee when you substitute for someone because you know that means we’re getting vaccinated,” she said. 

Safety precautions such as mask-wearing, hand washing and whatever social distancing in possible in schools filled with hundreds of students have helped keep teachers and students safe, but vaccinations give teachers more peace of mind, O’Brien said.

“Everybody is very careful, but in the end if a kid has a question you’re going to get right next to him to help and you don’t know who that student has been exposed to,” she said.

Michael Weber said that while the district can’t poll employees because of health privacy laws, he believes the vast majority of its staff members will choose to be vaccinated.

“Judging by what we’re hearing so far, I think we’ll be very close to 100%,” he said.

Tyler Weber said he hopes people will be patient and continue to social distance, wear masks and take other precautions.

“There’s light at the end of the tunnel. I remain hopeful. We just need to remain persistent and patient,” he said.