By Robert Kennedy
Feb 12, 2021 3:32 AM
MADISON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Walgreens locations in Wisconsin will receive doses of coronavirus vaccine directly from the federal government under a program launching this week.
“Step by step we will get there,” said Wisconsin Health Services deputy-secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk during Thursday’s DHS briefing.
State officials say 178 Walgreens locations will receive 17,800 doses of Moderna vaccine to begin with. The Federal Retail Pharmacy Program will expand as more vaccine supply becomes available.
These doses are in addition to what the state already allocates on a weekly basis from the federal government.
“What I can tell you about the number of doses is another 18,000 doses a week is another 18,000 doses towards our target,” said Van Dijk.
Wisconsin Examiner
Madison has been selected as the hub for regional vaccine distribution. (Photo of by John Maniaci, UW Health).
Florence County is one of just 110 counties nationwide without a retail pharmacy capable of providing immunization services. Five other rural counties in Wisconsin have just one such pharmacy.Â
The availability of several COVID-19 vaccine access points will be important for immunizing people in the hard-to-reach rural corners of the country, yet hundreds of counties donât have adequate access to retail pharmacies, according to a policy brief from the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis at the University of Iowa.
Front-Line Health Care Workers Getting Vaccinated For COVID-10 wwisradio.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wwisradio.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
First coronavirus vaccines in the arms of front line health care workers in Wisconsin
As of midday Wednesday, just under 200 front line health care workers in Wisconsin had received the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine
“To date, what I can tell, what I know is that we have 192 vaccines in arms that have been reported into the Wisconsin immunization registry,” state Department of Health Services Secretary designee Andrea Palm said during a media briefing. “We will, at least on a weekly basis to start, update those numbers.”
The state will have about 49,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week, although Palm said DHS had yet to be notified how many more doses the state will receive next, from the federal government “We do not know what our allocation of Pfizer vaccine will be for the next round, we assume for next week,” Palm said. “We certainly hope to receive that information soon, but obviously that’s critical to our ability to plan.”