FOX VALLEY, Delete. (WBAY) – We’ll learn more tonight about how the counties in the southern portion of WBAY’s viewing area will roll out the next phase of COVID-19 vaccinations. We first told you earlier this week that the state was paving the way for Phase 1b of vaccination, which would begin Monday, January 25, for anyone over 65.
It took just hours after the Fond du Lac County health department announced its plans to host its first COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the county fairgrounds on January 27, with 1,000 appointments available.
According to health official Kim Mueller, “We have planned where we will have 20 vaccinators that will be there, and we plan that each individual will be about ten minutes, so we have 20 people coming by every ten minutes.”
Mueller tells Action 2 News that there are at least 2,000 more people who have called the health department who are now on a waiting list. Thomas Conley is one of those people, but instead of calling the health department, he just showed up to make an appointment. “They told me it might be a matter of weeks, but they’ll call me when the next opening is and then arrange a time for me,” said Conley.
With about 19,000 Fond du Lac County residents aged 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 will also distribute the vaccine to the 1b group next week. “About 70,000 people are over 65 years old in ThedaCare,” says Dr. Mark Cockley, Chief Medical Officer.
In addition to the hospitals, vaccinations will also be offered at Encircle Health on the north side of Appleton, with plans to open additional clinics across the system in the future.
Thedacare asks 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, “When we look at it and how do we start pushing that away and know it might be 5,000 on that list as a number? Knowing we only have a thousand vaccines, how do we prioritize and how do we get people? If you are in that group it might be first come / first served in how you apply but how can we keep expanding that, provide a quick opportunity to immunize once we get the vaccine to pass this through to press. “
Both 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 that number increases, both entities say they will vaccinate to pass through humans more quickly.
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