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Pharmacist: Verifying pre-existing conditions for vaccine ‘a gray area’
By the end of March, millions more people in Wisconsin will be eligible for the coronavirus vaccine. State health officials have announced a list of pre-existing conditions that will make someone eligible.
MILWAUKEE - By the end of March, millions more people in Wisconsin will be eligible for the coronavirus vaccine. State health officials announced Thursday, March 11 a list of pre-existing conditions that will make someone eligible.
The list of eligible medical conditions is broad -- everything from cancer and asthma to being overweight, leaving vaccinators like Hayat Pharmacy around two weeks to prepare.
Lauren Urbaniak will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine on March 29. She has hypertension, but she's hoping to get her shot before then.
"I’m traveling at the end of the month, and I know that they are releasing the shots for my pre-existing condition on the 29th, but I don’t know if I’d be able to get it in by then," she said.
She waited outside Hayat Pharmacy's walk-in clinic Thursday, hoping there might be extra doses at the end of the day. Around a dozen others had the same idea.
"I just want to keep myself safe," said Urbaniak. "I’ve already had COVID. I don’t want to go through it again."
The lines are just a part of the pharmacy's daily routine.
"Six days a week, every single day, it’s been busy," said Dr. Hashim Zaibak.
Zaibak expects things to get three times as busy on March 29.
"It’s going to be an exciting day for us, and at the same time, a day we have to be prepared for," he said.
Right now, Hayat uses licenses and work IDs to confirm if someone is eligible. Verifying medical conditions like being overweight or pregnant will be a different challenge.
COVID-19 vaccine
"That’s still a little bit of a gray area," said Zaibak. "We’re still meeting and figuring out how we’re going to be able to determine this."
Zaibak says it will require trusting someone's word -- something he hopes people don't take advantage of.
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"If at the end of the day you cheat the system and you take somebody else’s spot, that person might be a person who will end up in the ER or in the ICU, or he or she might die if they don’t get that vaccine," said Zaibak.
Zaibak says if you will be eligible but can wait, he suggests not trying to get vaccinated right on the 29th but maybe waiting a few days to avoid the long lines.