MILWAUKEE, Wis (CBS 58) – Walgreens pharmacies across Wisconsin administered COVID-19 vaccines on Friday, Feb. 12, through a federal program with large pharmacy chains.
There are 178 sites in the state that receive a total of 17,800 doses. Each Walgreens site will receive approximately 100 doses.
“I worked for them for 49 years, and if they start doing something, they do it well,” said Mike Roets, who received the vaccine on Friday at the Walgreens at Capitol and 22.
Mike and Mary Roets said they got the vaccine because they want to do their part. They said they had no trouble making an appointment.
“We really felt we had a better chance with Walgreens,” said Mary Roets.
More than two dozen locations in Milwaukee are giving vaccines.
The vaccines are only available to eligible candidates, including first responders, health workers and people aged 65 and over. People who are eligible for the vaccine can register online. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services said Walgreens will also create a phone line.
Joe Sauer said his normal medical provider could not give him a timeline when people 65 and older could get a vaccine. When he heard that Walgreens would fire shots, he jumped at the chance.
“Walgreens was very good at dealing with senior citizens in retirement centers, and when they accepted it, I thought, ‘Why not? Why not go to Walgreens? They’s easy to deal with,'” Sauer said. .
DHS said it chooses Walgreens locations in underserved areas.
Stephanie Schauer, vaccination program manager at the DHS Division of Public Health, said the state uses the social vulnerability index to determine where the differences exist.
“We mapped and mapped the Walgreens sites in the areas, and the information helped inform which sites … received the vaccine,” Schauer said.
DHS data show that 3 percent of the state’s black residents, 5 percent of Asian residents, 7.8 percent of American Indian residents, and 10.7 percent of white residents received at least their first dose of vaccine.
Julie Willems Van Dijk, deputy secretary of DHS, said that this was partly due to the racial interruptions of the groups that are able to get the vaccine.
“I think that leads to a question, which is: what can we do to better diversify our healthcare staff or our police or fire brigade? What are the barriers for people of color to become healthcare workers?” she said. “What are the barriers that make it harder for someone growing up in a Black neighborhood in Milwaukee to become a nurse, become a pharmacist, or become a doctor?”