Milwaukee receives J&J vaccine, FEMA sending medical workers to city

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) – The Milwaukee Health Department gave an update on the city’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic on Thursday, Mar. 11.

Leaders from the health department say they are on track to give all educators who live or work in the city access to the COVID-19 vaccine by Sunday, Mar. 14.

As of Thursday morning, around 45,000 doses of the vaccine had been given out in Milwaukee. The city received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Wednesday, Mar. 10, but are holding it for educators.

“Our intention is to have Johnson & Johnson available for them so that they can be vaccinated and then only have 14 days before they have a full immune response,” Milwaukee Commissioner of Health Kirsten Johnson said.

Next week, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will be coming to the city with 57 medical workers, 25 registered nurses and other staff to help with operations at the Wisconsin Center. The health department says this will allow them to open more community vaccination sites.

“We need to target messages for specific populations,” Johnson said. “It can’t just be a blanket tweet or blanket Facebook post or message. I think we need to think very critically about young adults in specific neighborhoods, middle age adults in specific neighborhoods and older adults. Everyone has experienced the pandemic differently.”

Friday, March 13, 2021 marks one year since the first COVID-19 case was reported in Milwaukee. Now, the city has seen more than 63,000 cases.