County suspends Covid-19 vaccine reservations

With demand for the Covid-19 vaccine growing, the Washington Ozaukee County Health Department has stopped taking reservations for vaccinations on its website until those already on its waiting list get their shots, officials said Tuesday.

That comes after appointments for the department’s vaccine allotment from the state were filled in less than one minute on Monday as residents swarmed the website.

The week before, the website crashed because of the high demand for the county’s relatively piddling allotment of 200 doses from the state.

The situation is frustrating for local health officials and residents alike.

“For three weeks running, the county has received about 10% of the number of doses that we need to operate a fully functioning clinic weekly,” county Administrator Jason Dzwinel said. “This week, the appointments for the 200 doses we received were filled in less than one minute and the website had more than 7,500 hits. 

“Obviously, this creates an incredible amount of frustration for the eligible citizens we serve. The county shares in this frustration, but we are totally constrained by the supply that the state supplies. It’s wholly inadequate.”

The situation led officials in Ozaukee and Washington counties to shut down the online registration process until April.

“After significant consultation with Washington County, the decision has been made to take down the online registration until the counties receive enough weekly supply to operate vaccination clinics for three days per week,” Dzwinel said.

Until then, the weekly allotment will be used to vaccinate people already on the waiting list. 

Dzwinel said there are approximately 2,000 people already on the county’s waiting list, comprised of people in group 1A and those 65 and older who are without internet access.

“At the current pace we are receiving doses from the state, the waiting list could be fully addressed by April,” Dzwinel said.

That could change if the weekly allotment increases, however.

“If we received 2,000 doses or so next week the online system would relaunch,” he said. 

Those in the 1A group, who were given top priority for vaccinations, include healthcare personnel and law enforcement. Those 65 and older are part of the 1B, or secondary, phase.

The number of people eligible to receive the vaccine will grow exponentially beginning March 1 when teachers and school staff  members— about 5,000 people in Ozaukee County — and an undetermined number of “essential” workers, such as those in food service, become eligible to get vaccinations.

The health department administers vaccine shots at the Ozaukee County Fairgrounds in Cedarburg and the Washington County Fairgrounds south of West Bend. 

On its website, the Washington Ozaukee Health Department suggests those seeking vaccinations contact their pharmacies and other outlets, including Walgreens, Prevea Health, Pick n’ Save and Meijer.

Advocate Aurora Health also has contacted its patients to let them know they are on a waiting list to receive the vaccine.

According to the state Department of Health Services website, 14.6%, or about 13,000 people, of Ozaukee County’s residents have received at least one vaccination shot and 5.3%, or about 4,800 people, have received both shots.

Statewide, almost a million vaccine doses have been administered in Wisconsin, or about 12.5% of the population, with the weekly number peaking the week of Jan. 31 at 216,783, the DHS website says. That number dropped last week to 193,643. 

Through Tuesday, just 20,574 doses had been administered this week, according to the DHS.

Meanwhile, the number of active Covid-19 cases in Ozaukee County was at 32 on Tuesday, down from 63 on Friday but up from just five cases on Feb. 11, according to the health department website.

Those numbers are a far cry from a peak of 1,300 active cases in late November.