Republicans blame Evers for bungling Wisconsin’s coronavirus vaccinations

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s latest coronavirus count shows most of the state’s vaccine doses are still in the fridge.

The state’s Department of Health Services on Tuesday reported that just 85,609 of Wisconsin’s 266,675 vaccine doses have been administered.

DHS Secretary-designee Andrea Palm defended the slow roll-out, saying many states are off to a slow start with the vaccine.

“For the foreseeable future, demand for the vaccine is going to outstrip availability,” Palm said. “The holiday season is over and it is now certainly time to ramp up to make sure that we are pushing the vaccine that we have through the system.”

Numbers from the Centers for Disease Control reveal Wisconsin is 10th out of 12 Midwestern states in terms of the percentage of the population that has received a dose of the vaccine. Just 1.2% of Wisconsin’s population has gotten a dose of the vaccine.

Palm didn’t have an explanation as to why the vaccination roll-out has been so slow.

Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, said, no matter the reason, Gov. Evers and his administration is 100% to blame.

“The governor had months to prepare for this. We all knew the vaccines were on their way. Without a transparent and efficient plan, the governor is repeating the mistakes he made with unemployment insurance,” Darling said. “Wisconsin residents deserve and need to know when they can expect to be vaccinated against COVID-19.”

Darling sent the governor a list of 10 questions that she says need to be answered quickly.

“Governor Evers is on the verge of yet another disaster from his administration,” Darling said.

Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Cedarburg, said Wisconsin is lagging well behind other states in the Midwest and across the country. He too lays all of the blame on Gov. Evers.

“Gov. Evers is an absolute disaster as an executive,” Stroebel said on Twitter on Tuesday. “Wisconsin’s COVID-19 vaccination rates are the third worst in the Midwest. Must be easier to push a dubious mask mandate than distribute a vaccine.

Gov. Evers on Tuesday said he is not concerned about comparing Wisconsin to other states,

“While we’re worrying about comparing ourselves to Florida or to some other state,” Evers said. “I’ve continued to encourage people … to think about how important it is to make sure we’re not spreading this virus.”

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told News Talk 1130 WISN’s Jay Weber on Wednesday that Gov. Evers owns the failure to distribute the vaccine because he, and he alone, has the power over the state’s coronavirus response.

“When do people think they might be able to get a vaccine?” Vos asked out loud. “Is it this month? Is it this quarter? Is it this year? We don’t even have basic details out to the public.”

Vos said people across the state should be outraged by the delay, and the fact that some people are being denied life-saving medicine.

“[Gov Evers and the media] spent literally months saying because the legislature passed a bill in April and we weren’t going to pass another one until December, that we were ‘killing people’,” Vos told Weber. “Well here we are where they literally have a life-saving vaccine sitting in a freezer, and there’s not even an article that’s critical of the idea that we are not getting the idea out.”

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