How to Get a COVID-19 Survey in Wisconsin: Vaccination Hunters Share Tips

By Bram Sable-Smith

WPR / Wisconsin Watch

Robin Davis was delighted to learn that Wisconsin is considering her family for COVID-19 vaccinations from March 1st. It offers hope that she and her children will soon be able to venture safely outside their home in Milwaukee.

For the past 56 years, the 56-year-old has mostly fallen with her son, 26, and her daughter (23), who are both on the autism spectrum.

It was lonely and difficult, Davis said, but ultimately worth it. Her husband of more than 30 years died of pneumonia in 2019, and she is afraid to catch COVID-19. She remains the legal guardian of her adult children, responsible for medical and financial decisions.

Davis has her own physical disabilities, and the family participates in IRIS, Wisconsin’s self-directed program for frail older people and adults with disabilities. Therefore, all three qualified this month to receive vaccinations.

But Davis was not sure how to make an appointment. The login sites she found did not distribute the process.

That’s when she saw a TMJ4 news story about a Facebook group called Milwaukee & WI Area Vaccine Hunters and Angels, where Wisconsinites share tips for appointments.

She joined the group and posted her story. It connected her to the group’s founder, Bob Orech, who said he made it a ‘personal mission’ to find vaccines for the Davis family. Orech linked her to a pharmacist in Walgreens whom he met through the group. Davis and both children received their first shots the next day.

“I think this is one of the stories I’m most proud of,” said Orech, 47, a retail manager in Germantown, Wisconsin.

The fast-growing Facebook group has helped many Wisconsinites navigate through the state’s COVID-19 vaccine bureaucracy. Wisconsin is one of the state’s leaders in distributing vaccines to those who want it, but demand is still better than supply, and some residents who still prefer are still struggling to find appointments.

The Facebook group is among dozens that pop up nationwide in which members share insights for discussing vaccinations. Some, like Orech, even plan appointments for others. They are known as ‘angels’.

Orech started the group in late February after members of a Facebook group in Chicago helped him find dates for his parents in suburban Chicago. If the approach works in Chicago, he thinks, why not Wisconsin? As of Thursday afternoon, about 2,700 people had joined the Milwaukee group.

Wisconsin has administered more than 1.8 million vaccines since Thursday. About one in five Wisconsinites received at least one vaccine dose, and more than one in 10 were fully vaccinated, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Wisconsin Watch and WPR spoke to eight residents who received vaccinations. Here are their insights.

Work with a medical provider

Lisa Kirchberg, 67, did not have much trouble getting vaccinated in Milwaukee. Her health care provider – which is affiliated with Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin – sent her a letter in February saying she was eligible and could make an appointment by phone.

She follows the instructions and receives her first vaccine dose on 13 February and plans her second shot for 15 March.

“I really want it. I have never been afraid of that, ”Kirchberg said, adding that she followed COVID-19 protocols closely while living in a building with 500 people.

Investigate when and where to enter

Each medical service provider has its own system for booking vaccination appointments.

DHS maintains a searchable map of vaccine suppliers in Wisconsin, which lists vaccine registration sites for health care providers, health departments, and pharmacies. Some local governments offer their own portals to sign up for.

But appointment slots can fill up quickly. Orech said members of his group picked up patterns to discuss the best times to book at certain locations. Walgreens, for example, seems to be accepting new appointments daily at 6 a.m., giving early birds a leg up. Other pharmacies such as CVS, Walmart and Meijer are targets, says Orech.

Many websites require vaccine seekers to set up an account. Orech proposes to do so in a timely manner to abolish precious time once the discussions are open.

Be prepared to travel

One Madison supply chain worker qualified for vaccination on March 1 when Wisconsin increased the qualification for non-leading essential health workers. The 24-year-old asked not to be named and said he fears negative attention from people who consider him undeserved due to his age. He tried unsuccessfully for three days to plan an appointment at a Walgreens in Madison.

On the fourth day – when he lay half awake and agreed to the demand of his Australian cattle dog to go outside – he realized that it might be easier to plan an appointment in his hometown of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. He booked an appointment in Walgreens there on his first try.

He said the hour-long ride last week was worth it. But he feels guilty about getting a chance, while his father – who is younger than 65 but considered a high risk for COVID-19 – still does not qualify.

On Thursday, Wisconsin announced that the vaccine will be eligible for people with certain medical conditions from March 29. DHS expects all residents 16 years and older to be eligible sometime in May.

Ask for leftovers

Tom Kastle, a 64-year-old Madison folk singer, actor and longship sailor, earned much of his pre-pandemic income from concerts he played in nursing homes in and around Wisconsin. That businesses have dried up because long-term care facilities – now linked to 30% of COVID-19 deaths in Wisconsin – prevent visitors from controlling the spread of the disease.

A friend and fellow folk singer recently sent a postcard to Kastle describing himself as ‘vaccinated, masked and performing live’. Another friend told Kastle that nursing homes had vaccinated their independent contractors. Kastle sits two and two together. When a nursing home asked him for a St. Patrick’s Day concert, Kastle asked to be vaccinated. He received his first dose on 24 February.

Others managed to get remaining vaccines.

Orech said his Facebook group members called pharmacies at the end of the day to ask for leftovers that could otherwise expire and be thrown away – for example, due to missed appointments.

‘Pharmacists love their customers. They really do, ‘Orech said. “They look out for our families more than we ever realized.”

Some vaccination sites offer assistance lists for people who agree to show up quickly for a dose left over. Other vaccination hunters showed up at the vaccination centers to be unsolicited about extras near closing time. More than a million people also signed up for extras by Dr. B, a nationwide internet business tailored to local suppliers.

Find boarding appointments

Many vaccine tips have time, technology and resources, which illustrate how vulnerable communities can lose. Hashim Zaibak, a founder and pharmacist at Hayat Pharmacy in Milwaukee, sees the problem clearly.

The restrictions on poor internet access surfaced earlier in the pandemic, Zaibak said when Tony Evers’s administration’s government unveiled a COVID-19 test registration website that requires an email address. Hayat, which has more than a dozen locations, also offers testing to residents, some of whom do not have access to a smartphone, email address or internet access. Some do not speak English.

Therefore, the pharmacy employed employees to register community members for tests.

“We told our employees, ‘Hey, this platform is for someone who is young, technically proficient, and who knows how to run the Internet. But people in our community may not be able to do that. So they help, ” Zaibak said.

Access to vaccines is a similar challenge. The Hayat Solution: offers boarding appointments at various locations, including six days a week at 813 W. Layton Ave. in Milwaukee, the pharmacy’s headquarters.

“We had slow days when we only vaccinated 50 or 60 people, and we had some very, very busy days that we would get nearly 1,000 a day,” Zaibak said.

Zaibak said Hayat administered more doses than the state expected, and the pharmacies did not waste doses. If extra doses remain at the end of the day, call immediately eligible people waiting on Hayat’s waiting list.

Looking for a second dose

Davis, the widow in Milwaukee, is looking forward to completing vaccinations for her family. She looks forward to going outside more often with her children and friends and breathing fresh air. Her daughter works 15 hours a week at Goodwill. Davis hopes the vaccine provides enough protection for her son to be able to work part-time again.

But first they need a second round of doses, and they still need to plan the appointments. The Davis family initially received the Moderna vaccine, and the company recommends waiting a month between doses.

As the date approaches, Davis is again looking for appointments.

This story comes from a partnership of Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Public Radio and NPR. Bram Sable-Smith is WPR’s Mike Simonson Memorial Investigative Fellow, embedded in the Wisconsin Watch newsroom (www.WisconsinWatch.org), which collaborates with WPR, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, published or distributed by Wisconsin Watch do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.