Haven’t Gotten A Vaccine Yet? Use VaccineFinder To Find One, WI Health Officials Say

The tool helps connect people to vaccinations more easily, Department of Health Services says.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) is now urging people who have yet to start a COVID-19 vaccine series to use VaccineFinder.org to find available doses.

The tool, developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Boston Children’s Hospital, allows people to search for in-stocks vaccines in a 50-mile radius of their zip code. Users can also filter their search by vaccine brand—a feature that can help 16 and 17-year-olds get more easily vaccinated, because they are currently only eligible for a Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

DHS will officially replace its own vaccine provider map with VaccineFinder next month, the department said in a Thursday press release.

“DHS is constantly evaluating different tools to make it easier to find available vaccine,” DHS Secretary-designee Karen Timberlake said in a statement. “It is critical that we streamline this process so anyone wanting a vaccination can quickly locate available vaccine in their community and get vaccinated.”

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Wisconsin’s vaccination progress is still moving along swiftly. As of Thursday, 41.1%, or 2.4 million state residents—41.1% of the state’s population—had received at least one dose and 1.7 million—29.7% of the population—were fully vaccinated, according to DHS data. 

The state is still on track to have herd immunity—about 75%-80% of the population fully vaccinated—by the end of June, Deputy DHS Secretary-designee Julie Willems Van Dijk said in a Thursday afternoon press briefing.

“That’s very doable from a perspective of vaccine supply and vaccine access,” Willems Van Dijk said. “We just need people to keep saying yes [to the vaccine].”