About 2 million Wisconsin residents with medical conditions will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine as of March 29

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

The state’s Department of Health said 2 to 3 million Wisconsinites would be eligible for vaccinations at the end of March. That’s because state health officials have identified 20 medical conditions that increase the risk of serious illness from the virus.

The medical conditions for those who qualify 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 conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, or cardiomyopathies
  • Hypertension or high blood pressure
  • Immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) due to solid organ transplant, blood or bone marrow transplant, immune deficiencies, HIV, use of corticosteroids, or use of other immune-weakening drugs
  • Liver disease
  • Neurological conditions, such as dementia
  • Obesity (body mass index [BMI] from 30-39 kg / m2)
  • Overweight (BMI of 25-29 kg / m2)
  • Pregnancy
  • Lung fibrosis (with damaged or scarred lung tissue)
  • Severe obesity (BMI 40 kg / m2 or more)
  • Sickle cell disease
  • Type 1 or 2 diabetes mellitus
  • Thalassemia (a type of blood disorder)

Gov. Tony Evers said Wisconsin is preparing to turn the corner of the pandemic by massively expanding who is eligible to be vaccinated.

“We are ready to kick this pandemic aside and we are in an excellent position to do it,” said Evers.

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

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

Ontala was ecstatic to learn that people like her living with sickle cell disease will soon be able to receive the injection.

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

Sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disease that affects 100,000 African Americans in the United States. Ontala said she struggles with pain every day because of her illness.

Sickle cell

Michael Conroy / AP

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

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

Women who are pregnant and overweight are also eligible from March 29.

DHS Deputy Secretary Julie Willems van Dijk said that people who qualify do not need to provide proof of their medical condition to their vaccinator.

“Some vaccinators may take people on their word, others may want them to sign a simple form confirming that ‘yes, I am a person with one of these conditions,'” she said.

CDC

David Goldman / AP

FILE – This November 19, 2013 file photo shows a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention logo at the agency’s federal headquarters in Atlanta. On Monday, November 16, 2020, the CDC released new guidelines stating 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 the qualifying medical conditions, the state is going against the CDC advice for the remainder of Phase 1C.

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

“We still don’t have 5.8 million vaccines or even 4.6 million vaccines, that’s all adults. So we still have to weigh up the people most at risk from the vaccine supply, ”she said.

Those currently eligible in the 1B stage include educators, daycare workers, grocery store employees, public transportation employees, and people enrolled in Medicaid’s long-term care programs.

coronavirus

John Minchillo / AP

FILE – In this March 11, 2020 photo, a lab technician is preparing COVID-19 patient samples for semi-automatic testing at Northwell Health Labs, in Lake Success, NY. The first case of the South African coronavirus variant has been discovered in a New York citizen, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Sunday February 21, 2021. The South African variant involved a resident of Long Island’s Nassau province. Sequencing was performed at Opentrons Labworks Inc’s Pandemic Response Lab, a New York City commercial lab similar to this one, and verified at the Wadsworth Center in Albany. (AP Photo / John Minchillo, File)

Milwaukee County, meanwhile, says it’s working hard to get vaccine doses for those who qualify and want one. You can view the latest information on that effort here.

Primary care workers, people in Medicaid long-term care programs, and non-primary care workers who live or work in Milwaukee can now book online appointments at milwaukee.gov/covidvax or by calling 414-286-6800.

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