WAUSHARA COUNTY, Wis. (NBC26) -- There are nearly 700,000 Wisconsinites aged 65 and older who are now eligible to receive the Covid vaccine.
And the phones at local clinics are ringing nonstop.
"Everybody wants to be vaccinated now," Wisconsin Health Care Association President and CEO Rick Abrams said. "The sheer numbers of what's involved here aren't gonna enable that to happen."
Northeast Wisconsin vaccine clinics say they aren't receiving enough supply to meet the demand. According to the Wisconsin Hospital Association, the state is only taking in around 70,000 doses a week.
"We are doing about 700 vaccine with the 65 and up per week, as long as I can get that much," Waushara County Health Department director Patti Wohlfeil said. "There's always the hitch if I can get enough."
Nearly 25 percent of Waushara County's population is aged 65-plus.
"With 700 a week, you do the math and you tell me how long it's gonna take me and that's not counting anybody else… a long time," Wohlfeil said."
There is other hope. Another vaccine could be on its way to help fill the need.
"If [Johnson & Johnson] gets the emergency use authorization, that vaccine starts flowing not only to Wisconsin, but to all the states," Abrams said. "You only need one shot. That will accelerate the administration too."
The supply is also a concern in Green Bay. Bellin Health says the system has learned to expect the unexpected.
"It's the obviously day-to-day challenges of trying to manage our capacity schedule based on the inventory that we have," Bellin Health COO Sharla Baenen said. "And we don't find out usually until late in the week or on the weekend what [the supply] we're getting for the next week."
Bellin says it planned on vaccinating nearly 600 people a day with its Ashwaubenon clinic. But has it been able to deliver?
"I'll say no," Baenen said. "We could've vaccinated a lot more people this week. But again, it's not the state's issue; it's the federal supply right now."
It's a supply that's far short of a growing demand.
