Madison high school teacher drives more than an hour for COVID-19 vaccine - WMTV – NBC15

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MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - The newest group of people eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in Wisconsin includes educators and childcare providers, who became eligible on March 1. However, as more people become eligible, the vaccine supply is still falling short across Wisconsin.

The limits on supply are leading some to go quite the distance to find their first dose. One Madison woman drove more than an hour in search of the vaccine.

April van Buren, a digital media teacher at Madison’s East High School, drove all the way to Richland County for a vaccine appointment, where health officials said the vaccinations are moving along smoothly.

"I'm just grateful that I got the vaccine, I would have driven two, three hours if I had to honestly." Madison teacher...

Posted by Sanika Bhargaw NBC15 on Sunday, March 7, 2021

Van Buren said she cannot wait for the end of virtual learning.

“It’s my 18th year teaching, and I felt like a new teacher this year,” she said, describing the challenges of teaching virtually. “A lot of my students...are struggling with mental health and motivation, Internet access.”

However, the dangers of COVID-19 have already hit close to home, and van Buren does not want to take the risk of coming back in person just yet.

“We lost a student in our own school. I don’t want to see that. I know how hard that was on the community and my students and some of my colleagues,” van Buren explained.

The Madison Metropolitan School District has not set a date for high schools to go back to in-person learning, but when they do, van Buren wants to make sure she is protected. She started searching for places to get the vaccine, signing up through the district and checking with local pharmacies.

“I would go to the website for CVS or Walgreens and there weren’t any appointments available,” van Buren described.

She eventually widened her search when a former colleague told her Richland County had some doses available. Van Buren found an appointment for her first dose, about 60 miles away.

“I still worked all day and then drove to Richland Center and had one of the last appointment slots for a shot,” she said.

Van Buren is not the only one. Richland Hospital has seen several people travel quite far to to get their COVID shot.

“Our hope is that as vaccine supply increases that the need to travel is going to become less and less,” said Lyle Kratochwill, Emergency Management Coordinator at Richland Hospital.

Kratochwill said the hospital is finishing up second doses for people 65 and up and focusing on giving first doses to teachers, childcare providers and Medicaid long term care patients right now. They expect to open to all eligible groups by March 15.

Richland County has one of the highest vaccination rates in southern Wisconsin. Almost 24 percent of county residents have received at least one dose, and 17 percent have completed the vaccination series.

For van Buren, the trip—over an hour long—was worth it.

“I’m just grateful that I got the vaccine, I would have driven two, three hours if I had to honestly,” she said.

Now, she can get back in the classroom without some of the fear and anxiety she has been feeling throughout the pandemic.

“That’s a huge relief to know that I will be able to do my job and be safe, you know, and not feel like playing roulette with my health,” van Buren said.

More Madison teachers will start getting vaccinated the week of March 8. Public Health Madison & Dane Co. is holding a mass vaccination clinic at the Alliant Energy Center on Tuesday, March 9. On Friday, SSM Health is set to vaccinate 1,200 MMSD educators and staff.

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