Shortly after school-age children became eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, Children’s Wisconsin and Chorus Community Health Plan (CCHP) partnered with the City of Milwaukee Health Department to host five free COVID-19 and flu vaccine clinics in November and December 2021. The Milwaukee Health Department supplied the vaccines and PPE while Children’s and CCHP provided nurses and registration staff to administer the vaccines at various north and south side Milwaukee Public Schools. The clinics offered flu vaccines and both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, providing more than 350 pediatric vaccines and more than 180 adult vaccines.

“We have this process down to a science,” said Smriti Khare, MD, pediatrician at Children’s Wisconsin. “We appreciated the partnership to offer this long-awaited opportunity to protect kids from COVID-19 and to help give kids and families a chance to get back on track with preventive care that was more challenging for families to seek during the pandemic.”

In addition to these school-based vaccine clinics, Children’s and CCHP partnered with Health Connections, Inc. to provide COVID-19 vaccines in a variety of settings, including the Sherman Phoenix, Mexican Fiesta, Pridefest and more. Throughout the partnership with Health Connections Inc., CCHP hosted more than 90 COVID-19 vaccine clinic events throughout the Milwaukee area, vaccinating over 4,000 individuals and providing gift card incentives. Vaccinating kids is a significant step to further mitigate the impacts of the pandemic, and Children’s will continue working to improve access and availability of vaccines to families living in Milwaukee.