Milwaukee health officials aim for vaccine 'wait and see' crowd
MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee county health officials are trying to reach a specific group of people during its weekly COVID-19 update as vaccination appointments have decreased.
"If you’re willing to get it, now is the time to do so," Dr. Ben Weston said.
Officials are trying to reach the group of people people who fall into the "wait and see" category or might still be hesitant to get the vaccine.
"Nearly 200 million doses of the vaccine have been given just in the US alone. over 100 million doses of Pfizer, and 86 million of Moderna," Dr. Ben Weston said.
Officials say any safety issue in regards to Pfizer or Moderna vaccines would have come up by this point in time.
This message comes as vaccination appointments in the city decreased significantly from last week.
"As of today, the city’s vaccination rate is a little over 20%. If we don’t climb significantly, our ability to get life back to normal is going to be more difficult," Mayor Tom Barrett said.
If you know someone hesitant about the vaccine, health officials say talk to that person with empathy and with the understanding that getting the vaccine is a personal choice.
Bringing simple facts to that person in a respectful way could also help them decide what to do when weighing the risks.
"Please, don’t be the person that gets sick with COVID, that gets hospitalized with COVID, as we’re seeing more, especially now with the new variants. Or the person who dies with COVID when there is a vaccine here," Dr. Weston said.
Milwaukee launched a campaign to help with vaccine hesitancy called "real voices real choices" where people in the community share why they got vaccinated. CLICK HERE to watch the campaign.
Featured
Wisconsin DHS updates COVID-19 hospital data webpage
The update puts all COVID-19 hospital data on one page, so Wisconsinites can more easily find the information they need.
Featured
DHS: 943 new positive cases of COVID-19 in WI; 3 new deaths
The number of positive cases of COVID-19 in Wisconsin rose by 943 Thursday, April 15, state health officials reported, for a total of 588,504.