New Milwaukee Commissioner of Health Tackles Pandemic Head-on

The FDA’s recommended pause on the single-dose Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and stagnation in vaccination enthusiasm created challenges in Milwaukee’s vaccine roll out the Commissioner of Health Kirsten Johnson said on Friday. 

“What I think we’re seeing is that the initial 30% of people who are really excited and wanted to get vaccinated immediately have done so,” Johnson said. “Now we’re seeing there’s about 20 to 30% of the population is now get vaccinated when it’s convenient.” 

Milwaukee will launch one-on-one counseling services to respond to and alleviate vaccine fear with the help of state and federal grants, according to Johnson. Individual outreach is more effective—and more expensive—than information campaigns geared towards communities, Johnson explained. 

The recent halt of Johnson and Johnson vaccine has also slowed the health department’s vaccination efforts. 

“Johnson and Johnson was fantastic,” said Johnson, the Milwaukee commissioner of health. “It was really easy for us to use at our mobile clinics again we’ve only administered just over 1800 doses, but it was really part of our ability to progress and move forward. I’m hopeful that that pause be lifted in the next couple of weeks, but it does make it a little bit harder for us in the interim.” 

As of April 15, the Milwaukee Health Department had administered approximately 1,800 doses to teachers, American Family Field workers and individuals facing housing instability across multiple temporary vaccination sites, Johnson said. 

A small number of the doses administered were Johnson and Johnson. Those who received the vaccine were traced through their vaccination site and informed of the side effects.  

Johnson, Milwaukee’s third commissioner since the pandemic started last March, also addressed recovery from the pandemic, the future of vaccines, lead poisoning, vaccine passports and the recent firing of two high profile staffers within her first few days in office during an event at the Milwaukee Press Club. 

“In her role as Commissioner, Kirsten Johnson will bring experience, knowledge, and commitment to the Milwaukee Health Department,” said Mayor Tom Barrett in a written statement. “Her expertise will strengthen the efforts of our health department as we continue to navigate the many challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.” 

Vaccinations will not go away any time soon, Johnson said. 

“I think we’re in the long game for COVID vaccination,” Johnson said. “And the Health Department will have a big role to play in it.” 

While the pandemic is her first priority, Johnson is committed to addressing racial disparities in access to healthcare and safe living environments in the Milwaukee. The American Restoration and Reinvestment Act gives Milwaukee $400 million, which Johnson plans to invest in programs for housing instability. 

“All of us are thinking collectively about how to leverage those dollars to have the greatest impact,” Johnson said, referring to her plan for the pandemic and for betterment of the city in the years following. 

Lead abatement programs also must be supported and expanded to reduce the number of children living with lead poisoning within the city, Johnson said. She estimates 7000 houses in the city of Milwaukee contain at least one child with lead poisoning. 

Taking office in early March, Johnson replaced Interim Commissioner Marlaina Jackson, who filled in after former Commissioner Jeanette Kowalik resigned in fall 2020.  

Kowalik left the position after feeling limited and unable to do her job during the pandemic. She clarified during an interview that she felt restricted by policies created by state Republican lawmakers. 

“There has been a lot of trauma in the Health Department,” Johnson said, acknowledging the high staff turnover. In 2018, Kowalik’s predecessor, Bevan Baker was asked to resign by Mayor Tom Barrett due to a lack of response to the city’s lead poisoning epidemic. “But I am in it for the long haul.” 

Johnson plans to improve the culture of the health department and hopes to make it one of the best in the country. 

COVID vaccines will eventually be treated as a seasonal thing like the flu shot, according to Johnson. The vaccine could become something kids get before they to go to school, she added. 

However, it is unlike that the COVID-19 vaccination and vaccine passports will become mandatory, Johnson said. The logistics of confirming passport authenticity would be a challenge. 

“The piece around the COVID past the vaccine passport is just really controversial,” Johnson said. “A challenge we have the United States is, and we’ve seen this again since the beginning of the pandemic, this inability of our data to be interoperable. Checking passports from Illinois or Michigan would be a nightmare.” 

 When asked if the end of the pandemic was in sight, she hesitated and said the public health community was not ready to have that conversation. Johnson made air quotes with her finger whenever she used the word “recovery” in her responses. 

She earned some backlash by firing two prominent staffers in the first few days of her tenure. Critics worried that the pandemic was not the time to make drastic personnel changes and the move would hurt the staffers’ careers 

“I was told my appointment was up,” Dr. Griselle Torres told NNS in an interview. “That wasn’t a sufficient reason for me.” 

Torres served as the deputy commissioner overseeing data evaluation and strategic planning for the Milwaukee Health Department for the past 17 months. 

“Our understanding was we’re in the middle of a pandemic, we have major projects underway,” Torres added in the NNS interview. “Let’s not disrupt that.” 

Lilliann Paine, the other staffer Johnson fired, was among the group of leaders that pushed the city to declare racism a public health crisis in 2019. Milwaukee was the first on a growing list of cities in the country to do so. 

“When you come into a new role as it as a public health officer, you want to choose your team who’s going to support your mission and your vision, and ultimately, that’s what it is about,” Johnson said when asked about the change in staff. “I thankful for the work that those individuals have contributed to the department.”