Initial data show majority of COVID-19 vaccine doses in Milwaukee County have gone to white, younger residents

By Allison Dirr, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The roll out of the biggest vaccination program in our history is under way. Getty Images

As of Monday, 21,728 doses of the two-dose coronavirus vaccines had been administered to Milwaukee County residents — about 60% of them to white residents, according to the county’s COVID-19 dashboard.

That fact concerned local leaders, especially in light of the harsh toll the pandemic has taken on the African American and Latinx communities in the county. 

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett called the finding a “major concern” and said he had contacted the state about ensuring an equitable distribution of vaccinations.

“We’ve gone through 2020, where there was a lot of social unrest about racial inequities, and we’ve talked countless times on these calls about the social determinants of health and the negative impacts of this pandemic on the African American and Hispanic communities,” he said. “I think it would be a grave injustice if in the distribution of vaccinations that we went back to the old standby that perpetuated these inequities…”

The most vaccine doses had been administered to people ages 25 to 34, followed by those age 35 to 44.   

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