The federal COVID-19 mass vaccination site at the Wisconsin Center in Downtown Milwaukee will be “sunsetted” on Friday, May 28. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has completely controlled the site since April 6. An eight-week window of operation was part of the deal from the beginning.
“On Friday, May 28, the FEMA site at the Wisconsin Center will be sunsetted,” City of Milwaukee Commissioner of Health Kirsten Johnson told members of the city’s Public Safety & Health Committee Thursday morning. “At that point we’ll be transitioning to the Northwest and Southside health centers.”
The Northwest Health Center is located at 7630 W. Mill Road. The Southside Health Center is located at 1639 S. 23rd St. Both sites offer free, walk-up service to residents 16 or older. No appointments are needed for initial doses. Same goes for the Wisconsin Center. Until May 28, at least.
Johnson said the decision to end the FEMA site was not only driven by the eventual loss of federal resources, but by a “decreased demand for vaccines.” The site has been averaging about 2,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines per day.
“We do feel that we’ll be able to handle the volume at our two sites on the north and south side,” Johnson added.
To date, the City of Milwaukee has administered 95,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines. Forty-thousand of those doses have been administered in the last four weeks. All told, 21.7% of Milwaukee residents have been fully vaccinated, while 38.3% have received at least one dose.
“We are really heavily focused on our mobile sites” Johnson said, “working closely with community partners, faith-based organizations, work sites. We are doing homebound. We have been looking at ways to incentivize vaccines.
“We’re really hopeful that some of these efforts will increase our vaccination rates,” she added.
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