1/3 of Wisconsinites have received COVID-19 booster doses

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - A third of Wisconsin residents have received their third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine (or second dose, if they started with the Johnson and Johnson version), new Dept. of Health Services data show. However, while the number of people getting boosted is ticking up, the total number of doses delivered is heading the other way.

Once again, Wisconsin recorded the fewest doses ever delivered in any week since the very first one, when supplies were trickling in and the list of people who could even get one was very short. By the second week of vaccinations, when the state was facing similar obstacles, health officials managed to deliver nearly twice as many shots in arms as they did last week.

The drop-off has not been a steady decline. As recently as the first full week of 2022, when Wisconsin was in the grips of the Omicron variant and slowly getting past Delta, nearly nine times as many people went to get vaccinated.

DHS states just over 64 percent of Wisconsin residents have had at least one dose of the vaccine, while 60.6 percent of them have completed their series, which includes the two-week waiting period after completing the initial series.

COVID-19 vaccines for Wisconsin residents.(Dept. of Health Services)

As it does with the other vaccination rates, Dane Co. continues to lead the way in the percentage of residents who received their booster shot or additional dose. It may have to pass that crown off as the county in second place is knocking at its door. Dane Co. sits at 47.5 percent, DHS reports, while Door Co. is less than a point behind at 46.9 percent. Bayfield Co. is the only other county over 40 percent.

The 181 positive tests recorded Monday is the second fewest since last summer. However, because it more than tripled the same day last week, the seven-day rolling average increased marginally to 350 cases per day. After nearly months of unbroken declines, the average has remained within 10 cases of the current one every day for the past week.

Also remaining consistent was the seven-day rolling average for deaths in Wisconsin. On Monday, DHS reported recording 10 deaths per day on average over the past week. That figure has hardly moved all month. In all, its dashboard shows 12,534 people in Wisconsin have died from COVID-19 or complications from the virus.