Starting on Feb. 3, a $100 gift card will be given to people who get their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a Milwaukee Health Department vaccination clinic.
The department says about 56% of Milwaukee residents ages five and older have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. That leaves 250,000 eligible city residents who are unvaccinated, but starting Thursday that number could shrink by 1,000.
That's because the city has 1,000 gift cards to give away to people getting their first dose of the vaccine at a Milwaukee clinic on the northwest side, the south side, in the Menomonee Valley or at mobile vaccination sites that include some Milwaukee Public Schools.
Some people had been calling for a new incentive program. Health Commissioner Kirsten Johnson explains why an incentive program is starting Thursday.
"I think the impetus now is we have the funding to pay for it. But in addition, we have the capacity for our staff to do it. [Earlier] we were so overwhelmed with the testing demand. Knowing right now is the time we need more people to get vaccinated, and we have a partnership with MPS, we thought the timing is good to offer an incentive," she says.
The funding is coming from the state of Wisconsin, which is passing along federal money. Johnson saus the gift cards may be all gone within a few days.
The incentive comes amid a continuing drop in the local COVID-19 caseload. Dr. Ben Weston of the Medical College of Wisconsin and Milwaukee County says on average the county is still seeing more than 500 new cases per day and COVID -19 is killing five people per day.
"We have case counts, positivity rates and hospitalization numbers that would each be record-setting prior to omicron. To be clear, we are moving in the right direction, but the disease burden in the community remains high," he says.
Weston says he's concerned about the BA.2 COVID-19 variant — that's an offshoot of the initial omicron variant. He says data shows BA.2 is likely more transmissible but similar in severity to omicron. Weston says being fully vaccinated, including the booster does, offers a high level of protection.
But Weston says there's room for improvement on the booster dose front, with just 56% of county residents who are eligible having received the additional shot. In addition, there are some demographic differences.
"So, when you look at population 65 and older, it's 76% that have been boosted. That's the most critical age group since it's the most vulnerable age group. That drops down for younger age groups between 20-30%. From an equity standpoint, we also see differences among race and ethnicity. So, our white population, about 65% of the eligible population, has received the booster. African American population, it drops down to 47%, and our Hispanic population is about 39%," he says.
Weston says the community must continue its equity-focused approach to vaccination boosters.
Milwaukee County says it's also trying to get more people to wear a more effective COVID-19 mask. County Executive David Crowley says they're on pace to distribute another 200,000 N95 masks this week.
"One hundred fifty thousand of these masks will be given to Milwaukee County providers such as our senior centers, Journey House, the Milwaukee Adolescent Health Program, Running Rebels, Public Allies and others," he says.
Crowley says the county has also started giving away 50,000 masks at the Marcia P. Coggs Human Services Center, located at 1220 W. Vliet St. He says those may be gone before Friday.
