DHS: 11.1 percent of Wisconsin residents have received COVID-19 vaccine doses

Around 11.1 percent of Wisconsin residents have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, per a new data dashboard released by the Department of Health Services Thursday.

That amounted to 646,649 Wisconsinites. DHS said that 196,911 Wisconsinites have completed the COVID-19 vaccine series, about 3.4 percent of the state’s population.

Wisconsin vaccinators have administered 860,389 COVID-19 doses.

DHS also released race and ethnicity data:

• 7.3 percent of American Indian residents in Wisconsin have received at least one dose and 2.2 percent have completed their series.
• 4.9 percent of Asian residents in Wisconsin have received at least one dose and 2.5 percent have completed their series.
• 2.9 percent of Black residents in Wisconsin have received at least one dose and 0.8 percent have completed their series.
• 10.4 percent of white residents have received at least one dose and 3 percent have completed their series.
• 2.9 percent of Latinx residents in Wisconsin have received at least one dose and 1.1 percent have completed their series.
• 5.1 percent of records reported a race of “other.”
• 8.6 percent of records reported an unknown race and 7.4 percent did not report ethnicity.

DHS Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk said they’re working ensure that vaccines get to healthcare providers for people of color. They’re giving doses to tribal clinics, community health centers, local health departments and free and charitable clinics.

They’re also looking at public awareness and outreach to communities, including providing $6 million in grants to community-based organizations within communities and neighborhoods to spread the word.

And they want to make sure they have a vaccine delivery system that’s ready to provide doses once they’re available, she said. They’re in talks with the Federal Emergency Management Agency about vaccination sites that could serve diverse populations.

Disparities in vaccination could also be related to the makeup of groups that have been prioritized for vaccine, she said. Healthcare workers in the state are predominantly white, which is contributing to more white people getting immunized than other racial groups, she said.

“It leads to a question, which is, ‘What can we do to better diversity our healthcare workforce or our police workforce or our fire workforce?” she told reporters. “That is part of when we talk about structural racism, thinking about what are the barriers that make it harder for someone who grows up in a Black neighborhood in Milwaukee to become a nurse or to become a pharmacist or to become a doctor. And as a state we can all work better together to address those structural barriers.”

Per the data, 13.8 percent of Wisconsin women have received at least one dose and 4.8 percent have completed their series.

And 8.2 percent of Wisconsin men have received at least one dose and 1.9 percent have completed their series. DHS reported that 0.6 percent of records were reported without sex.

When it comes to age, 34.1 percent of Wisconsinites over 65 have received a first dose and 2.7 percent have completed their series.

DHS reported 1,239 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, for a total of 553,110.

Eleven more deaths brought the state’s death toll to 6,140.

An additional 7,144 people were tested, for a total of 3,105,591.

DHS considers 12,647 cases active.

The seven-day average for daily new cases is 879, down 40 from Wednesday and 350 from a week ago.

The seven-day average for daily new deaths is 21, down four from Wednesday and five from a week ago.

As of Wednesday, the seven-day positivity rate by test was 3.6 percent, down 0.2 percentage points from Tuesday and 1.2 percentage points from a week ago.