City of Milwaukee Health Department Vaccination Site to Open at the Wisconsin Center

MILWAUKEE— On January 11, 2021, Mayor Tom Barrett was joined by members of the Milwaukee Health Department to preview the Wisconsin Center as the City’s primary vaccination site. The Center is expected to open Tuesday and initially will be used to vaccinate Group 1A recipients, which include City frontline healthcare workers and other emergency responders who are at high risk of getting COVID-19. The Center is not open to the general public at this time.

“I think it is important for us to appreciate all the work that our health department employees have done. They have been remarkable,” said Mayor Tom Barrett. “There is a tremendous amount of teamwork and coordination all being done in real-time.”

The Milwaukee Health Department received its first batch of vaccine, 100 doses of Pfizer vaccine, from the State of Wisconsin on Thursday, January 7. Distribution of the vaccine was completed last week, and with the quantity of vaccine received, 120 health department employees, COVID-19 testing staff and fire department emergency responders received their first doses.

Starting today, an additional 800 doses of vaccine will be delivered to Milwaukee in staggered times throughout the week. The City of Milwaukee has requested an additional 3,000 doses of vaccine for the following week. The vaccine will be stored in a secure freezer under constant monitoring at the Wisconsin Center.

The vaccination process, both for the initial recipients and, later, for the general public, has been designed for maximum efficiency and safety. At the entrance to the Wisconsin Center, individuals will undergo a health screening and temperature check. They will then discuss any questions they have with medical professionals and consent to vaccination. Following distribution of the vaccine, individuals will conclude the process in the monitoring room where Emergency Medical Service providers from the Milwaukee Fire Department will observe them for possible adverse reactions.

The City is working to complete the first group of vaccinations as quickly as possible. Following Group 1A, the Milwaukee Health Department will begin vaccinating Group 1B individuals such as police officers, teachers and other essential workers.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services announced today that police and fire personnel will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine beginning January 18, 2021, which begins the first step into phase 1B for Wisconsin. Local health departments will be leading the coordination for the vaccination of personnel, as well as emergency medical services and unaffiliated health care providers in their jurisdictions.

Vaccination efforts will continue to grow in the coming weeks and months. The City of Milwaukee is working in real-time to ramp up its vaccination network. The ultimate goal will be to set up multiple vaccination sites across the city.

“It is important to note that this is only our starting point for the largest mass-scale vaccine distribution in the history of this country,” said Nick Tomaro, Public Health Emergency Response Planning Coordinator for the Milwaukee Health Department. “There will be a multi-pronged approach for vaccine distribution. We will go mobile at a certain point. We’ve worked closely with the Milwaukee Fire Department and we’ve talked with them about having mobile vaccine strike teams that will be incredibly important as we head into later phases.”