Here & Now

New Top Health Official

Frederica Freyberg:

The person newly in charge of managing COVID-19 response in Wisconsin, including vaccine distribution, is Interim Secretary of the Department of Health Services Karen Timberlake. She takes over from Andrea Palm who left for the Biden administration. Secretary Timberlake served in the same role under Governor Jim Doyle. She joins us now and thanks very much for being here.

Karen Timberlake:

You’re very welcome.

Frederica Freyberg:

Same role, different times. How different is this going to be?

Karen Timberlake:

Very different times. You know, certainly here at the Department of Health Services we’ve always been committed to protecting and promoting the health and safety of the people of Wisconsin. But that mission has never been more meaningful than right now as we continue to manage our way through this unique COVID-19 pandemic.

Frederica Freyberg:

What are the next concrete steps that you expect to take in Wisconsin’s response to this?

Karen Timberlake:

There really are three top priorities related to the response. The first is to get vaccines into arms of people all across the state of Wisconsin. We have made tremendous progress in that regard. We have given over 700,000 people in our state their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. So that means 12% of our entire state population has received their first dose. The second priority is to continue with all of the preventive measures that we know work: wearing masks, keeping physically distant from people who are not in our immediate household, keeping our hands clean as much as we can. And the third priority is to continue with testing. Testing has sort of fallen a little bit off of everyone’s radar screen as we’ve been focused on the vaccine. But the reality of it is we need to be able to continue to track this disease very carefully. In order to do that, we need people to get tested.

Frederica Freyberg:

What is your expectation and hope that the Biden administration will be able to quickly solve issues of vaccine supply and consistency of shipments to Wisconsin so that your agency can offer the same to the vaccinators out there?

Karen Timberlake:

Absolutely. The Biden administration has shown already that they are intending to be a great partner with states. We’ve already seen improvements in communication. We have seen increases in the allocation of vaccine that has come to Wisconsin just in the last several weeks. And beginning this week, we’re able to allow our many vaccinator partners, our hospitals, our clinics, our federally qualified health centers, our pharmacies all across the state to request vaccine for two weeks instead of one week, which I know is a little bit of progress, but it’s just that much more predictability for the people who help us actually administer those shots into arms to save lives all across the state.

Frederica Freyberg:

So that’s on that side. An Appleton Post Crescent reporter this week wrote she has taken more than 100 calls in two days from elderly readers desperate to figure out how to get this vaccine. What do you say to people long since eligible but still stuck not being able to find a vaccine?

Karen Timberlake:

Yeah. We’re right in that place where we know that there are so many people who are interested in getting the COVID vaccine and that’s really important. We want to make sure we connect people to vaccines. We need a couple things to happen in order for that to occur. We need all of our hospitals, public health departments, pharmacies, all those vaccinator partners, we need them to be communicating proactively in their local communities about how best to access the vaccines because honestly it is a little different organization by organization. We also really need to ask people to be patient and to understand that going from zero vaccine on December 13 to now 700,000 plus shots having been given a few short weeks later, it’s an incredible achievement really but it’s something we’re continuing to get better and better at it. And finally what I would say is anyone who has the ability to use the internet should be looking first on the website of their own doctor’s office, their local pharmacy, their local public health department to see what information they can find. If they can’t find the information that way, pick up the phone, but recognize, right, that phone lines get jammed quickly. And the third thing is that as we are able to have more vaccine supply and we are standing up more community vaccination sites, we will also be standing up a registration system on a website that will enable people to find vaccine at those community sites a bit more easily than they’re able to today but again, being able to do that requires more supply than we have.

Frederica Freyberg:

So briefly, the Legislature this week eliminated the mask mandate. The governor immediately turned around, reinstated it. Today the Legislature passed its COVID relief bill. The governor vetoes it. How are the politics of the pandemic in Wisconsin affecting our response?

Karen Timberlake:

I think for us here at the department, we are really focused on continuing to do what we need to do to support this response. So getting vaccine out, supporting the great work of our partners all across the state. I am committed to working with our hospitals, our clinics, all of our partners including our Legislature to make sure we can do to help the people of Wisconsin.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Karen Timberlake, thanks very much.

Karen Timberlake:

Thank you.