Wisconsin Calls On Feds To Send More Vaccines

MADISON,WI — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and state health officials on Friday called on the federal government to allocate more Pfizer vaccines to Wisconsin as the state was informed Thursday it will only be receiving 35,100 doses, which is much less than expected after the initial 49,725 doses the state received this week, according to a news release.

Wisconsin has been hard hit by the coronavirus and the only statewide order in place to control the spread of the coronavirus is a mask mandate.

“This is unacceptable. Wisconsin citizens deserve the vaccine the federal government promised,” Evers said in a statement. “Our healthcare workers and long-term care residents need this vaccine that is ready and available. We call on the federal government to send us more vaccine without delay.”

Wisconsin officials also called on the federal government to provide clarity on the vaccine allocations.

As of Friday, 451,676 Wisconsinites have been diagnosed with the coronavirus since March, according to the state Department of Health Services.

Seventeen counties are experiencing critically high case activity and statewide hospital bed availability is at 13 percent and 36 percent of hospitals in Wisconsin are anticipating critical staffing shortages within the next week, the release said.

Other states have also seen their supply cut for the second week in relation to what they were expecting.

A spokesperson for United States Department of Health and Human Services released the following statement:

“There was some confusion between planning and training numbers provided in mid-November and actual official weekly allocations, which are only available the week prior to distribution shipping because they are based on the number of releasable vaccine doses available.

We are working on clearing up any misunderstanding up with the governors and jurisdictions. Operation Warp Speed allocation numbers locked in with states have not been changed or adjusted.

Only three official allocations have been provided to states: Week 1 Pfizer allocations were provided Friday, Nov. 20; week 1 Moderna allocations were provided Friday, Nov. 27; and week 2 Pfizer allocations were provided Tuesday, Dec. 15. Those are the only official allocation numbers that have been provided.

Jurisdictions are allocated doses pro rata by population over 18 years old. Allocations will depend on the amount of vaccine available. Each week, OWS will let states know how many doses are available to order against for the coming week. Shipments to a jurisdiction may arrive over several days.

Operation Warp Speed remains on track to allocate enough vaccine for about 20 million Americans to receive their first doses before the end of the month, pending Moderna receiving an EUA.”

The HHS released another comment:

“Reports that jurisdictions’ allocations are being reduced are incorrect. As was done with the initial shipments of Pfizer vaccine, jurisdictions will receive vaccine at different sites over several days. This eases the burden on the jurisdictions and spreads the workload across multiple days. This same process was successfully used for the initial distribution of Pfizer’s vaccine, and we are simply applying lessons learned. Operation Warp Speed is committed to delivering jurisdictions’ allocated vaccines according to their plans safely, quickly and efficiently.”