Teachers get in line while half of seniors still scrambling for Covid-19 shots

School staff members and child care workers became eligible Monday to be vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus as nearly half of Ozaukee County’s seniors are still scrambling to get their shots. 

A dedicated flow of vaccine for teachers and child care workers won’t become available until March 15, after the state pairs schools with local vaccinators.

It’s expected to take until the end of April to vaccinate that group. Only after that will others in the so-called 1B group —food service workers and others deemed essential — be eligible to be vaccinated.

Washington Ozaukee County Health Department Interim Director Tyler Weber said each school district and private school was surveyed to gauge the number of staff members seeking vaccinations. 

That number totaled about 6,500 people, and has been forwarded to the state Department of Health Services, which is working to assign each district to a hospital, pharmacy or other vaccinator.

“We had to rapidly connect with the school districts and vaccinators and make sure what made sense,” Weber said. “The state then will decide the week of March 15 which school will get vaccinations from where for the next six weeks.”

Weber said he is still waiting for the state to provide a list of child care providers before he can count how many vaccinations are needed for them.

While school staff members will have to wait until March 15 to access the stream of vaccine dedicated to them, Weber said they are eligible to obtain vaccinations on their own through other vaccinators.

The number of doses allocated to school staff will be in addition to the number of doses the county receives each week.

Weber’s department has been requesting 2,000 doses each week. It received 400 this week and expects the same number next week, he said.

Those doses are being used to clear a waiting list of people who registered on the health department website before it was shut down after being overwhelmed.

That list is mostly made up of people 65 years old or older but also includes some health care workers in the top priority 1A group who still have not been vaccinated, Weber said.

Weber said that while progress is being made, the frustration continues.

“The good news is 50% of people over 65 have been vaccinated,” he said. “The bad news is we still have almost 50% who have not. 

“People want it and they deserve it and they can’t get it,” he said. “I don’t see any reason why the frustration level would have decreased. It’s still there, it’s strong and it’s justified.”

The state recently released the list of local vaccinators statewide, including 18 in Ozaukee County. Twelve of the county’s vaccinators are in the southern half of the county while just six are located in Grafton, Saukville and Port Washington. None are in Fredonia or Belgium.

Weber didn’t know why that is but theorized that it may have something to do with population and the special storage required by the vaccine, especially the Pfizer vaccine ,which must be stored at 70 degrees below zero, he said.

“That’s not a capability that everyone has,” he said. “I think there’s a combination of factors.”

There’s some hope that the flow of vaccine will improve. Until now, available vaccines have been from Pfizer and Moderna only. But the state announced it will be getting 47,000 doses of the just-approved Johnson and Johnson vaccine, which requires a single shot, instead of the two shots required by Pfizer and Moderna.

Weber said he does not know if any of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine will be coming to Ozaukee County.

“I do have hope that more vaccine will become available and the rate of vaccinating of those in our counties will continue to grow,” he said. “We’re just doing our best to handle a moving target.”

A list and map of vaccinators with their contact information can be found on the DHS website at www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19/vaccine-map.htm.