Full SDMAC Committee Makes Phase 1B Recommendations

This morning the full State Disaster Medical Advisory Committee (SDMAC) reviewed the recommendations of the SDMAC Vaccine Subcommittee for Phase 1B vaccination priority. The Committee slightly modified the recommendations and forwarded them on as a recommendation to the Secretary of the Department of Health Services (DHS) for her final approval and publication.

DHS Assistant Deputy Secretary Lisa Olson thanked the Committee and the Subcommittee for their work in reviewing the public comments and preparing the recommendations, and shared that the Secretary’s Office is planning to take the weekend to review their recommendations and publish a final guidance for those Wisconsinites who will be eligible to be vaccinated under Phase 1B early next week.

DHS has previously announced two groups that have been already approved for Phase 1B:

  • police and fire personnel (who became eligible on January 18th)
  • Wisconsinites 65 and older (will be eligible on Monday, January 25th or immediately if a vaccinator has concluded vaccinating previously eligible populations)

Of note in the Committee’s recommended changes/discussion:

  • As it relates to sub prioritization within Phase 1B, if necessary because of limited vaccine supply, Education and Childcare were added as an “Employment” sector that consideration should be given to for prioritization. The subcommittee did not include an “Employment” sector consideration in their recommendations. The Committee discussion around this focused on getting kids back into a better learning environment as soon as possible and the positive impacts this will have on their families as well staffing at the schools.
  • The Committee maintained “Utility Employees” and “Non-frontline health care personnel” in their recommendation to the Secretary. These were originally forwarded as minority opinions from the subcommittee, but were in the final document presented and approved by the Committee.
  • The committee did not include those with high-risk medical conditions below age 65 and did not augment the public transit worker definition to include ride share services and airline staff, both of which were also minority opinions of the subcommittee.

The SDMAC Vaccine Subcommittee will begin discussion of recommendations for Phase 1C at their meeting tomorrow morning, Friday January 22nd, at 7:00 AM (link to meeting page).

Below is a current tracking chart we created of where Wisconsin is at in comparison to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in comparison to the recommendations that were made by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on December 20th.

Phase ACIP Recommendation SDMAC Recommendations WI Enacted
1A Health care personnel and long-term care facility residents
  • frontline health care workers
  • residents in long-term care facilities (nursing homes and assisted living facilities)
  • frontline health care workers
  • residents in long-term care facilities (nursing homes and assisted living facilities)
1B
  • Persons aged ≥75 years and non–health care frontline essential workers;
  • ACIP has classified the following non–health care essential workers as frontline workers: first responders (e.g., firefighters and police officers), corrections officers, food and agricultural workers, U.S. Postal Service workers, manufacturing workers, grocery store workers, public transit workers, and those who work in the education sector (teachers and support staff members) as well as child care workers.
  • IRIS and Family Care Recipients
  • Congregate Living staff and residents:
  • Public Facing Essential Workers:
  • Education and childcare
  • 9-11 Operators
  • Utility Employees
  • Public Transit
  • Food Chain
  • Non-Frontline Health Personnel
  • Mink Husbandry

(Link to explanations)
  • police and fire personnel (who became eligible on January 18th)
  • Wisconsinites 65 and older (will be eligible on Monday, January 25th or immediately if a vaccinator has concluded vaccinating previously eligible populations)
  • Additional recommendations expected week of 1/25
1C
  • persons aged 65–74 years, persons aged 16–64 years with medical conditions that increase the risk for severe COVID-19, and essential workers not previously included in Phase 1a or 1b
  • Essential worker sectors recommended for vaccination in Phase 1c include those in transportation and logistics, water and wastewater, food service, shelter and housing (e.g., construction), finance (e.g., bank tellers), information technology and communications, energy, legal, media, public safety (e.g., engineers), and public health workers
2
  • Phase 2 includes all other persons aged ≥16 years not already recommended for vaccination in Phases 1a, 1b, or 1c.

 

Link to ACIP recommendations; https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm695152e2.htm

 

Back To Top