MADISON, Wis. — Public Health Madison & Dane County shared new data Friday including vaccination rates by geography.
The data was recorded from May 10 to 23. The darker blue spots indicate areas with lower vaccination rates, while lighter blue areas contain rates upward of 70% or more. Health officials said there are generally lower vaccination rates in places in outlying municipalities in the county.
The Village of Brooklyn had among the lowest vaccination rates in the county, with 37% of residents having completed the vaccine series. The most vaccinated small towns in Dane County included Perry and Medina, while much of Madison had vaccination rates higher than 70%. The range among all municipalities was from 37 to 98%.
As far as census tracts in cities and larger towns, there were lower vaccination rates in Sun Prairie, Madison’s north and south sides and areas close to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The range of all census tracts was between 21 to 97%.
Health officials said there could be various reasons as to why vaccination rates are lower in these areas, which is what makes the above maps useful for pinning down areas that may benefit from further outreach or mobile vaccination clinics.
Health experts say geographical disparities can lead to COVID “hotspots” where outbreaks are more likely.
PHMDC said it geocoded addresses of people with a COVID vaccine, which are documented in the Wisconsin Immunization Registry.
Some people who live in Dane County may not be represented in WIR data, such as UW-Madison students who have a home address which is listed outside of the county. As such, vaccination rates around the Isthmus and other areas where students live may be artificially low as a result.
PHMDC added that some addresses simply cannot be geocoded, meaning health officials could not put 4% of vaccinated people within a specific municipality or tract.
News 3 Now will be holding another Vaccine Day on Thursday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at William G. Lunney Lake Farm Park and the News 3 Now station parking lot.
A map of other pop-up COVID vaccination clinics throughout the county is available below:
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