Wisconsin moves to top of nation in daily COVID-19 vaccinations as plans for free clinics ramp up

MADISON - Wisconsin is now leading the nation in the average number of COVID-19 vaccine shots being administered daily — a massive increase that comes as the Evers administration is expanding its rollout to include free vaccination clinics across the state. 

The state's vaccine rollout has improved among national rankings significantly in recent days, now 10th in administering a first dose to residents, and 16th in the total number of doses administered — up from nearly last fewer than two weeks ago. 

On a seven-day rolling average basis, Wisconsin is now administering roughly 6,170 shots per million residents per day. The next fastest state, Hawaii, is administering roughly 5,830 shots per million residents on average, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The effort to get the state vaccinated began slow, lagging its Midwestern counterparts, but is now third in the region in getting at least one dose of the vaccine into residents' arms. 

Track COVID-19 in Wisconsin:See the latest numbers and trends

Health Services Secretary Karen Timberlake said in an interview Monday that the increased speed is, in part, a result of better communication from the federal government about how many doses the state will receive every two weeks — allowing for better planning.

"One of the things that the Biden administration has recognized right away is that states need as much predictability and as much clarity as we can have," Timberlake said. "So this week for the first time since we began administering vaccine, we were able to allow our vaccinator partners to request supply for two weeks at a time instead of one week at a time. So that we'll have a cascading effect."

Timberlake also attributed the speed to changes in how the state handles the federal pharmacy partnership program, which she said initially slowed down Wisconsin's ability to distribute vaccine because it required the state to set aside tens of thousands of doses.

Local officials express frustrations

But while the overall rollout is improving in the number of doses being administered, some local officials in Milwaukee County say they are frustrated over what they call a lack of transparency from the state regarding how the vaccine is being distributed.

Franklin Mayor Steve Olson called Monday for the elected leaders of Milwaukee County’s 19 municipalities to write a letter to the state about the issues.

“This is ridiculous,” Olson said during a meeting of the county’s Intergovernmental Cooperation Council. “Our health department’s phones are ringing off the hook, and they can’t tell people when we’re going to have vaccines or where they can go to get even on another list. It’s the lack of information from the state that is just handcuffing everybody, and it’s making this whole thing a joke.”

Ann Christiansen, director of the North Shore Health Department, said health leaders are frustrated by a lack of clarity on the state's formula to allocate vaccine doses.

Health officials requested a meeting with state leaders later this week to get more information, she said.

As of Monday, Wisconsin was seventh in the Midwest in the percentage of residents who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and third in the percentage of residents who have received at least one dose of the vaccine — 10%. 

State begins rollout of community clinics

The state Department of Health Services is expanding the rollout further by creating a community clinic in Rock County through a partnership with Virginia-based AMI Expeditionary Healthcare, a health care company that has administered COVID-19 testing sites and vaccination clinics in other states.

It will open Feb. 16 and have enough doses to provide shots to 250 people daily at no cost. Once Wisconsin receives more doses of the vaccine, the state plans to open six to 10 more clinics with the capacity to administer up to 1,000 shots per day.    

“Wisconsinites are working together to stop the spread of COVID-19 and put this pandemic behind us. This partnership with AMI is going to help us take another step in the right direction,” Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement. 

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Health Services said agency officials would release the location of the clinic in the coming days.

Track COVID-19 in Wisconsin:See the latest numbers and trends

The community clinic will be run primarily by AMI with help from state health officials and the Wisconsin National Guard, which has provided COVID-19 testing across the state since the pandemic first hit the state in March. 

Christiansen said there’s also an effort to create a new community vaccination site in Milwaukee County, similar to the clinic at the Wisconsin Center set up by the City of Milwaukee Health Department. The second community site would serve the larger county population, she said.

Health officials have requested support from the federal and state governments for such a site, she said.

The community vaccination sites would fit into a network that also includes health care systems, pharmacies, local health departments, and other independent vaccine providers, Christiansen said.

“The future capacity will certainly be there, and we’ll just wait and continue to hope that availability of that vaccine catches up to the growing capacity that we have,” she said.

The state is in the midst of its second phase of the vaccine rollout. Wisconsin residents in public-facing jobs, like providing health care and public safety, and anyone age 65 and older are eligible to receive vaccine shots.

A new phase begins March 1, which will include teachers, grocers, and anyone living in shared housing like prisons, among other groups.    

Mary Spicuzza of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.

Contact Molly Beck at molly.beck@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MollyBeck.