Doctors and local leaders urging eligible people to get vaccinated, too many slots open

MILWAUKEE (CBS58) -- If you are eligible and there are vaccine appointments open in your area, health experts are urging you to sign up. They say too many appointments are open. 

"If you look underneath enough rocks, you can find a place that can vaccinate you," Dr. Jeffrey Pothof said. He is UW-Health Chief Quality Officer. 

He says the goal is to have all vaccine appointments booked. 

“It’s fair to say vaccines really are the ticket to getting back to normal.”

North and South Division High Schools are now vaccination sites. However, Mayor Barrett says people are not going there to get their shot.

“We have the capacity but we don’t have the demand, both at that site and the North Division site and that’s a concern, we want people to use these sites," Barrett said. 

CBS 58 Reporter Winnie Dortch looked up appointments for this week at several Walgreens locations near the CBS 58 news station. As of Sunday, March 28, there are over 100 slots open in our area.

“If we here more stories of vaccinators having vaccines available and people not signing up for it, that would give us information that would suggest we should make it anyone, anyone older than 16," Pothof said. 

Currently, group 1C is eligible. These are  people with preexisting health conditions, like asthma or diabetes.

Dr. Pothof says the problem is, it may be hard to prove your condition. He says some people may lie or cheat the system.

“There’s just no way that a Walgreens or a pharmacy or even a health system, especially when you don’t get your care at that health system can tell whether you have asthma or diabetes. There’s just nothing about you that let's us know. if you say I have asthma, we’ll vaccinate you.” 

He says this is why some states opened access for all because it’s impossible to police this group. In the end, doctors want everyone to get vaccinated. They’re asking people to wait until a vaccine is available for you.

If you can’t make your appointment please call to cancel or reschedule. Dr. Pothoff says a no-show means they have to immediately find someone to give the vaccine to or it can potentially go to waste.