WAUTOMA, Wis. (NBC 26) -- As the highly-transmissable COVID Delta variant spreads across the country, local health officials are scrambling to administer more vaccines.
"We had lots of people calling us, begging us to get vaccine right at the beginning," Waushara County Health Officer Patti Wohlfeil said.
But now, throughout Northeast Wisconsin, the demand for doses is at its lowest point.
"We might be down to the group of people that we're not able to convince," Wohlfeil said.
In Waushara Co., less than 35 percent of the population is fully vaccinated. That's where Wohlfeil administered nearly 1,000 COVID shots per week back in March.
Now, she says that number is down to around five.
"I don't know that I can think of something that I haven't done that we can do," she said. "We're getting a handful here and there, but there's still people coming. It's just not at all at the rate."
To find out ways to get more shots into arms, the state has sent a response core to counties with low vaccination rates.
"A lot of it just comes down to taking time to talk to a person one-on-one, which takes a lot of time to debunk these myths one-by-one," Waushara Co. response core member Hiba Hashin said.
And with just over 50 percent of Wisconsin fully vaccinated, DHS Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk encourages health officials and even state residents to influence those numbers.
"Actually going out and knocking on doors and going door-to-door in a neighborhood," Van Dijk said. "And talking with people about whether they're interested in vaccine."
With methods like pop-up clinics and advertising campaigns, the DHS says that's at least been enough to create firm interest.
"We continue to see a steady pace of people who are getting vaccine," Van Dijk said. "We continue to vaccine five to 10,000 people a day."
Wisconsin is seeing less than 100 COVID cases per day. And amid vaccination rate struggles, the state says there is a silver lining.
"Every COVID-19 death is now a preventable death," Van Dijk said.
The DHS has released a new map identifying areas of Wisconsin with low vaccination rates. According to Dep. Sec. Julie Willems Van Dijk, efforts to increase administration simply include going to door-to-door and asking people to speak with friends and family. pic.twitter.com/PilBEeTeza
— Ben Bokun (@ben_bokun) July 9, 2021
The state started to break down vaccine data by municipality on Friday.
In Green Bay, 45 percent of people have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine. That number is significantly higher in Appleton, where 52 percent of people have gotten at least one dose.
Just 42 percent of people have gotten at least one dose in Oshkosh. And 44 percent have in Fond du Lac.
