MADISON, WI (WTAQ) — Health officials in Wisconsin are already discussion how to distribute COVID-19 vaccines when they become available.
DHS officials spoke Tuesday after two such vaccines were reported as being close to ready earlier this month. Vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna both boast an effectiveness rate over 90%.
Simply being effective is only part of the battle, however.
“This will be the most extraordinary public health intervention our state has ever undertaken,” said DHS deputy secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk. “This COVID-19 vaccination planning and dissemination is even more complicated than we ever imagined.”
At issue is how, exactly, to get enough doses of the vaccine to effectively immunize a large swath of the state’s population. This requires solving issues with storage, distribution, production and procurement. It also requires about $3.1 million.
“If we’re able to produce the vaccine, if we’re able to get good uptake of the vaccine…all of these things will help contribute to creating a level of immunity that will protect us,” said Willems Van Dijk.
The vaccine would likely be distributed in phases–and only after undergoing rigorous safety testing by independent examiners.
“In that first phase it will likely be given to frontline healthcare providers through their employee health systems,” Willems Van Dijk explained. It would then be given to those in long-term care facilities.
It will still be months, at the earliest, before the vaccine could be distributed amongst the general population. Officials say wide distribution could be seen by summer of next year.
