SPRINGFIELD — Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday that the state will move ahead with plans to expand vaccine eligibility under Phase 1B of its vaccination plan later this week.
A total of 73,181 COVID-19 vaccinations were administered statewide combined Saturday and Sunday. The state has administered over 2.2 million doses to date, with 4.4% of the state’s population being fully vaccinated.
In an unrelated Monday news conference, Pritzker said the Thursday eligibility expansion will include individuals aged 16 and older who have comorbidities, disabilities and underlying conditions. Residents will not be required to provide proof of an underlying condition in order to receive a vaccine, he said.
“We're not making people walk in with papers from their doctor to prove that they have diabetes or to prove that they have cancer,” Pritzker said. “We are relying on the honor system.”
Residents currently eligible for a vaccine under Phase 1B include people aged 65 and older and frontline essential workers.
The state’s seven-day rolling average for administered vaccinations stood at 55,499 Monday. The average vaccination rate has dropped over the past week as the state saw inclement weather and shifted focus to administering second doses to those who have already received their first.
“We saw a small delay last week because of weather nationally in the delivery of vaccines,” Pritzker said Monday. “But now [health departments] are seeing many more second doses being delivered to them than they’ve seen before.”
As of Monday, Illinois ranked 19th in per capita vaccine distribution with 14% of the state’s population having received at least one dose, according to data from The New York Times. The state had previously ranked as low as 47th nationally in late January, according to that database. Roughly 4.5% of the population has received two doses.
Pritzker said the initial lag in vaccinations was due to a decision to stay in Phase 1A longer than other states.
“We wanted to make sure in Phase 1A that health care workers were covered completely,” he said.
Pritzker said he expects the state will receive up to 500,000 vaccine doses from the federal government this week, an increase from the nearly 300,000 per week the state has received in weeks past.
Additionally, a new single-dose vaccine from Johnson & Johnson could be granted authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in a Friday hearing. If approved, the new vaccine could make millions more doses available to states in the coming weeks.
More than 850 vaccination sites are currently open across the state, with more expected to come online in the coming weeks as the state builds vaccination capacity and the federal government works to increase production to meet national demand.
The state announced Monday that two new mass vaccination sites in Rockford and Collinsville will open on Tuesday. The two new sites bring the number of mass vaccination sites to 14 statewide.
Each site will be managed through a partnership with Illinois Department of Public Health and the Emergency Management Agency and will be supported by members of the Illinois National Guard.
“These new mass vaccination sites and mobile teams will build on our partnership with local health departments and help ensure we administer doses as quickly as we receive them,” Pritzker said in a Monday statement.
The statewide seven-day rolling positivity rate stood at 2.8% Monday as public health officials reported 1,246 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 out of 37,361 test results.
The state’s positivity rate has not moved more than a tenth of a percentage point over the past 11 days.
As of Sunday night, 1,504 individuals were reported hospitalized around the state due to COVID-19. Of those, 377 were in the ICU and 169 were on ventilators.
Public health officials announced 34 deaths due to COVID-19 Monday, bringing the state’s death toll to 20,303 since the pandemic began. Illinois has recorded a total of 1.1 million cases to date.
Vaccination site location and appointment information is available at coronavirus.illinois.gov.
Why was Illinois ranked so low on per capita vaccine distribution?
Illinois was among the worst states in vaccine distribution, The New York Times reported. Friend said the state lagged because it decided to stay in its first phase longer before expanding eligibility.
The state has since improved to where it is distributing doses faster than they arrive from the federal government, he said.
Between the possible approval later this month of a Johnson & Johnson vaccine and President Joe Biden's decision to invoke the Defense Production Act to ramp up production, Friend said he expects to see increased production.
State Sen. Jason Plummer, a Republican from Edwardsville, said IDPH officials didn't address all of his concerns about transparency during the hearing.
"The Pritzker Administration and its representatives have yet again refused to prioritize the people of this state by refusing to answer the numerous questions that remain regarding the failures of Illinois' COVID-19 vaccination rollout," he said.
State Sen. Julie Morrison, chair of the Senate Health Committee, said she plans to call another hearing in a few weeks.
Why can't local health departments plan better for how many vaccines they'll have?
Prior to Biden taking office, states received last-minute notice of the doses they'd receive each week, making it difficult to share information with local health departments.
Those local agencies for now are some of the only places people can book appointments as hospitals and pharmacies await doses directly from the federal government and build up their infrastructure. In order for health departments to use doses effectively, they need to be able to plan in advance.
Biden promised in January his administration would give states a three-week forecast of the minimum amount of doses they could expect. Using that information, Illinois started sending forecasts to local health departments statewide Thursday, Ezike said.
State Sen. John Curran, a Republican from the Chicago suburb Woodridge, complained that those forecasts weren't available for public review. IDPH provides information online about each county's vaccine inventory, but the site doesn't specify how much each county received per week and its available data could be delayed by as much as 72 hours.
John Wagner, Monroe County Health Department administrator, agreed with Curran.
"There's not a fair distribution of vaccine across the state," Wagner said. "I would really like to see IDPH post their weekly allocation of vaccine. Certain areas are getting far more than other areas. Some areas are finishing 1B, getting down to 65, and I'm still on my 75-plus-year-olds."
How does the state decide how many vaccines to send where each week?
Illinois distributes vaccines based on county population, the impact of the virus and with an "equity-centric" lens. But Curran said it needed to be clearer how the state was taking equity into consideration.
Black and Brown Illinoisans are more likely to become seriously ill or die from COVID-19, according to IDPH. The equity approach will also focus on people who live in rural communities with limited access to internet or transportation, Friend said, adding that he would take Curran's suggestion back to his team.
Can a local health department make its own rules?
Yes. A health department can decide to follow the state's guidelines or it can choose to move more slowly through the phases. For instance, St. Clair County at first decided that in addition to those in Phase 1A, it would only allow people 75 and older to receive the vaccine. Slowing the phases limits the amount of people demanding or expecting an appointment and also allows departments to focus on at-risk populations.
The city of Chicago, meanwhile, receives shipments directly from the federal government. The city can use those direct shipments as health officials choose. They decided not to expand eligibility to people with disabilities and high-risk health conditions on Feb. 25, as recommended by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, because they were still working on the initial phases.
Are people in previous phases still eligible?
Yes. Vaccine providers should still prioritize people in the first phases, even if those individuals didn't want to get the vaccine at first and changed their min
Why are inmates being vaccinated at the same time as the elderly and others?
State health officials say jails and prisons are hotspots for the virus that can seep into the community.
Republican lawmakers expressed frustration during the hearing that incarcerated people might get the vaccine before other priority groups. The virus spreads rapidly in group living settings such as prisons and nursing homes, and it affects employees as much as it does people living there. Health officials say employees not only suffer from the virus themselves, but can spread the virus in the community. Corrections workers were eligible under Phase 1B.
The state will start vaccinating employees and inmates Tuesday at the East Moline Correctional Center and will expand the program to other locations later next week, Friend said. The Illinois National Guard will assist.
State Sen. Terri Bryant, a Republican from Murphysboro, said she would liked to have seen more detailed information from the governor's office on "why he prioritized inmates over more vulnerable people with comorbidities."
Vaccinating inmates as well as employees is sound public health policy, said Democratic state Sen. Robert Peters of Chicago, because even people who have been vaccinated could still carry and spread the disease.
When will we know more about vaccine rollout in Black and Brown communities?
IDPH wants to release data about the vaccine rollout in communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, Friend said. The information should include details similar to those available for coronavirus cases and deaths in those areas, he added. He did not provide a timeline for when the data would be available.
