Bucks’ exec Alex Lasry gets COVID-19 vaccine by ‘pure happenstance’

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) – Milwaukee Bucks Senior VP Alex Lasry, 33, tweeted he received the COVID-19 vaccine this week, despite not being in the current groups of eligible vaccine receivers.

“This week I was vaccinated!” Lasry wrote in a tweet on Jan. 29. “My wife got a call from her uncle that works in a facility that had extra doses that were going to go to waste if not used right away. With Lauren early in her pregnancy, we wanted to ensure our home, and entire community, is safe for everyone.”

Lasry added in a subsequent tweet the situation was ‘pure happenstance.’

This week I was vaccinated! My wife got a call from her uncle that works in a facility that had extra doses that were going to go to waste if not used right away. With Lauren early in her pregnancy, we wanted to ensure our home, and entire community is safe for everyone. pic.twitter.com/bctLVytyu6

— Alex Lasry (@AlexanderLasry) January 29, 2021

The issue drew negative reaction on Twitter by some who criticized the NBA executive for receiving the vaccine while thousands in the current eligibility groups have not yet received the vaccine.

But cases like Lasry’s have been occurring throughout Wisconsin as the storage of some vaccines leaves vaccinators with either using the leftover doses they have at the end of the day or risk throwing it away, unused.

In a Department of Health Services briefing Friday, Governor Tony Evers said he was not familiar with Lasry’s case, but understands the position some vaccinators are in.

“There may be times when we’re telling people to get shots into someone’s arm. Out of those 460,000-plus people, that some of them may be out of sequence,” Evers said. “I’d rather have them do that than throw something away.”

DHS Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk noted cases like Lasry's do occur because of the need to not waste vaccine doses, but warned vaccinators do sign an agreement with the state to follow the eligibility recommendations or face consequences.

“If they perpetually violate those recommendations we talk with them and if they would continue to do that, we have the option of not giving them more vaccine,” Van Dijk said.