MADISON, Wis. (WFRV) – Wisconsin assisted living facilities will start to receive COVID-19 vaccinations as the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) has activated part B.

Gov. Tony Evers announced the DHS has officially activated Part B of the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program.

“Wisconsin has a particularly high number of residents in assisted living facilities and we wanted to be sure that every resident and staff in this program has the opportunity to get vaccinated. After careful planning and coordination, our vaccine team was able to successfully reserve enough vaccine doses to launch this program—those efforts will ensure our most vulnerable Wisconsinites are protected against COVID-19,” says Gov. Evers.

According to a release, assisted living facilities will be hearing directly from pharmacies to plan their vaccination efforts in the coming days.

The Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program is a federal public-private partnership that provides vaccine administration for Wisconsin’s long-term care facilities. CVS and Walgreens pharmacies have been contracted to offer onsite COVID-19 vaccination services.

Part B is set to launch on Jan. 25, and will provide vaccinations to the remaining facilities enrolled in the program.

According to the DHS, as of Jan. 14, over 11,700 residents and over 13,500 staff at skilled nursing facilities have been vaccinated. Of the 361 eligible facilities in Part A, 261 skilled nursing facilities have now completed the first dose of the vaccine.