A 33-year-old director of Milwaukee Bucks and son of a billionaire received the coronavirus vaccine at a Milwaukee retirement home this week, despite not being part of a group currently eligible in Wisconsin.
MADISON, Delete. – Alex Lasry, a 33-year-old Milwaukee Bucks executive and son of a billionaire, received the coronavirus vaccine at a Milwaukee retirement home this week, despite not being part of any group currently eligible for the Wisconsin shootings.
“I got vaccinated this week!” Lasry tweeted Friday after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported it. “My wife got a call from her uncle who works at a facility with extra doses that would be lost if not used right away. Since Lauren was early in her pregnancy, we wanted to make sure our home and the entire community is safe for everyone. “
Lasry, a New York City resident and hedge fund manager, is considering running for the United States Senate in Wisconsin in 2022. He also chaired the guest committee of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, which was awarded to Milwaukee but went online due to the pandemic .
Lasry, the son of Marc Lasry, co-owner of Bucks, tweeted that his vaccination was “pure coincidence, but I am incredibly grateful.” Alex Lasry told the paper that his wife’s uncle who called about the vaccine is a rabbi from Ovation Chai Point Senior Living.
“It’s safe, healthy and how we will all finally get out of this pandemic,” he tweeted. “As the rollout progresses, don’t waste vaccines if available! Get vaccinated! “
Gov. Tony Evers said in an update on Friday about the Wisconsin vaccination efforts that state health officials are encouraging suppliers to use whatever vaccine they have.
“They should just get it in someone’s arm,” Evers said.
As for Lasry, Evers said he isn’t sure what happened. Evers, who is 69, said he is waiting for his doctor to contact him about making an appointment for his first injection, as they will be available to anyone over 65 in Wisconsin starting Monday.
He said he is waiting for his doctor to contact him about making an appointment for his first injection.
Lasry said he received no special treatment because of his position with the Bucks, his political ambitions, or his father’s wealth.
“That has nothing to do with anything,” Lasry told the newspaper. “Honestly, if I wasn’t married to Lauren, I don’t know if I would have received a call or if I would have known about it.”
Evers said he would rather see providers administer vaccine outside of the priority stages than waste it, and said the number of doses delivered outside of protocols will be a small percentage of all vaccinations.
Deputy Secretary of the State Department of Health Services, Julie Willems van Dijk, said that sometimes health care providers can get more doses from individual vials than planned and that no one wants to waste a vaccine. Many providers keep waiting lists of people to call them quickly if doses exceed appointments, she said.
“We don’t want any dose to be wasted,” she said. ‘We need all these doses in the arms. That’s how this can happen, even with excellent planning. “
All vaccine suppliers have signed an agreement to provide doses according to the state’s priority stages, Van Dijk said. If providers continually violate the guidelines, government officials will talk to them and may decide not to send those providers more doses, she said.
“We’ve talked to a number of places and have seen behavioral changes there,” she said. “(But) there is no way we can monitor every vaccine that is put into an arm at the end of the day.”