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As Wisconsin eligibility expands, will you be able to find a COVID-19 vaccine appointment?

Posted at 6:27 AM, Apr 05, 2021
and last updated 2021-04-05 08:46:15-04

Starting Monday, anyone 16 and older can start getting vaccinated. But what's your likelihood of finding a shot?

If you're part of this new group eligible to get vaccinated, you may still have to wait a while.

"We're already booked up this week. We didn't get a lot of vaccine for new doses this week so they went very quickly," said Kyle Beyer.

Beyer is the owner of Northshore Pharmacy in Shorewood. He's reiterating that eligibility does not equal availability.

"Whenever a new group becomes available, there was an extra level of anxiety or angst that maybe you were going to miss out and if you don't get it that first week, that's a very expected outcome. It could take weeks, even months. But everyone who wants a vaccine will get one," said Beyer.

With this newly eligible group, there's an extra condition: Those who are 16 and 17 are only eligible to get the Pfizer vaccine.

"We may not find out until a couple of days before which manufacturer we're getting," said Beyer.

"Just to make sure that if you're scheduling an appointment for a young adult or you're a young adult scheduling your own appointment, to verify that the location you're going to does indeed have Pfizer in stock," said Aziz Abdullah.

Abdullah helped create the Healthy MKE website that constantly updates when and where vaccines are available in the Milwaukee area.

He wants everyone to be aware you can compare options.

"For appointments, those are probably always going to be a few days out. And in some cases potentially a few weeks out. But also, keep your eyes open for available walk-up events and walk-up locations," said Abdullah.

Hayat Pharmacy just announced a walk-in clinic at the Milwaukee Public Market Monday. Life Tree Pharmacy is taking some walk-ins this week.

Other vaccine locations, like the Muslim Community Center, offer walk-ins on certain days of the week.

Some businesses do too. Gee's Clippers is hosting vaccine clinics with no appointment necessary the next two Saturdays.

"Just stay patient, keep checking the sites and locations that you'd like to get immunized at. And we're as immunizers going to keep working hard and as safe as we can to get everybody immunized," said Beyer.

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Coronavirus in Wisconsin

More data on Wisconsin's vaccination progress here.

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