Vaccinators prepare for influx of patients in Wisconsin starting March 22

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MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Starting March 22, those with certain medical conditions can start receiving the COVID vaccine in Wisconsin. 

DHS estimates that will make more than two million more people eligible. 

At Summit Clinical Laboratories, they've been busy. 

"We are getting a lot of calls," said Faisal Ahmed-Yahia with Summit Clinical Laboratories. 

Their waitlist is also growing. 

"We're going to do what we can to accommodate as many people as we can in the shortest amount of time," he said about the vaccine. 

They're waiting to hear how many doses they'll be receiving from the state before opening up more appointments. So is North Shore Pharmacy. 

"Sometime in the next few days we'll have those loaded," said owner and pharmacy manager Kyle Beyer. 

He says they've been getting questions from people about eligibility and what documents they might need to bring. 

"The state's clarified that there is no burden of proof to that patient. We do ask that they do be truthful when they sign up, that they do have one of those disease states," said Beyer, "Most sites, ours included, are just going to have them sign attestation or document that says I do in fact have one of these disease states that qualifies me for this new phase."

He says if booking for a 16 or 17-year-old, check to see what vaccine certain locations are offering before scheduling an appointment. 

"It's important to remember that if you have children 16 and 17-year-olds, they can really only qualify for the Pfizer vaccine," Beyer said. 

He says they're also getting a lot of questions about the Body Mass Index qualification. Anyone with a BMI of 25 or higher qualifies. 

"There's plenty of calculators out there. You'd be surprised, frankly, how many people will qualify based on that alone," he said. 

Beyer says while there may be two million more people eligible next week, there will not be two million doses right away. 

He asks for patience. 

"We'll keep doing this until everybody that wants one, gets one."

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