Mayor: 50,000 vaccinations given out at Wisconsin Center so far

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) — Now that vaccine eligibility has expanded in Wisconsin, thousands more people are looking for appointments. 

Appointments are going fast at the Wisconsin Center, where the Milwaukee Health Department says it is working with FEMA to vaccinate 2,500 people per day. 

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett says there have been more than 50,000 vaccinations given out there. 

Anyone who lives, works or studies in Wisconsin can get a vaccine there. 

It’s one location Bob Orech says he and other vaccine hunters are getting appointments. He created the Facebook page now known as Wisconsin Vaccine Hunters and Angels - Entire State. 

He says they’re also having luck at Hayat Pharmacy, Froedtert and Walmart. 

“Right now Walmart has been dropping later at night so that 10 p.m. to midnight range has been very successful for people, which carries over into the next morning for people. Walgreens has been inconsistent, whereas 6 to 7 used to be our normal time, they’re kind of just dropping things in as they go,” said Orech.

The Facebook page is also keeping track of a list of pop-up community clinics. 

To help accommodate people looking to schedule the vaccine, UW Health has made changes to its sign-up process. 

People can sign up at www.uwhealth.org/vaccine. 

“It doesn’t matter so much whether you’re a UW Health patient or anyone out there in the community we would call patients,” said Dr. Jeff Pothof with UW Health, “If you want to look at our site and get a vaccine through us, if it’s convenient for you, close to our drive-thru site, you can go ahead and do that.”