GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — People living in Northeast Wisconsin with preexisting health conditions -- cancer, heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, etc. -- are frustrated by the state's vaccine priority list.
"Diabetes should be prioritized, as should heart disease, as should cancer, as should every other chronic disease that’s out there should have a priority over people that aren’t affected by that disease," Diabetes Leadership Council Chairman Stewart Perry said. "We’re already put at risk by having those chronic diseases."
According to the Department of Health Services, currently eligible groups in the state of Wisconsin include frontline workers, long-term care workers and residents, first responders and adults over the age of 65. The next population that will be allowed to receive a dose, which the DHS expects to happen around March 1, does not include those with preexisting conditions who are too young to claim their vaccine.
"Let’s judge risk," Perry said. "Let’s judge the 47-year-old who had diabetes who has to go to work each day or works at a restaurant and is a waiter."
Soon employees in education, those in Medicaid long-term care programs, and select few public-facing workers, non-frontline health employees and those in congregate living facilities will be eligible for the vaccine. Though it's been a controversial addition, the next phase for vaccination does include incarcerated people in jails, prisons and mental health institutes.
"I’m not saying 'don’t vaccinate the 80-year-old,'" Perry said. "What I’m saying is the person with diabetes needs a priority because they have a disease that effectively is killing them every day."
NBC 26 spoke with a 47-year-old Green Bay man with cancer who is angry at the state's eligibility schedule. He says he believes it's ridiculous he isn't prioritized over incarcerated individuals.
The DHS advises ineligible groups to wear masks, social distance and get the flu shot while they wait for their chance to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
"This is a matter of limited supply and more people who want and need the vaccine than we have vaccine for," DHS Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk said in a Tuesday afternoon media briefing.
But Perry won't take that as answer.
"I don’t like answers of we don’t have enough," Perry said. "Make more. There are other companies waiting for FDA approval on their vaccines. Let’s get them approved. If they work, let’s get them approved."
The DHS says it's advised health care providers to prioritize people over the age of 65 who have preexisting conditions. Those outside of that age group are out of luck for now.
"If you’re 80 [years old] and you have asthma and diabetes, your number may come up first from your health care provider than if you’re 65 and perfectly healthy," Willems Van Dijk said.
