Is Illinois vaccinating people quickly enough? Answers to your COVID vaccine questions
The Illinois Department of Public Health says the state is taking “aggressive action” to address early signs of a possible resurgence of COVID-19.
Since March 8 and through Friday, the state has seen 10 days of increases in the seven-day rolling average for hospital admissions. The state’s COVID-19 test positivity rate has risen from 2.5% on March 10 to 3.3% on Friday.
“We don’t want to go down the same path we’ve seen before and experience a resurgence in the pandemic, which is why Governor Pritzker directed us to use all our resources to halt these upticks,” said Dr. Ngozi Ezike., director of the state health department. “We cannot move forward if our metrics are going backward. The vaccine will help get us to the end of the pandemic, but we need to continue to reduce spread of the virus by wearing a mask, avoiding large crowds, keeping six feet of distance, getting tested after seeing others, and getting vaccinated as soon as possible.”
Are people being vaccinated quickly enough? What’s being done to stop another resurgence? Do current vaccines work against new COVID-19 variants? Answers to your vaccination questions and more.
Q: COVID-19 hospitalization and cases are rising in Illinois. Are people being vaccinated quickly enough?
A: As new variants spread through the country and parts of Illinois outside of the metro-east, local officials are focusing on vaccinating people as quickly as possible.
The World Health Organization has stressed that scaling up vaccine manufacturing and rolling out doses as “quickly and widely” as possible will be critical in protecting the population from the new variants.
St. Clair County Chairman Mark Kern said it’s imperative the county continues to vaccinate at a speedy rate to avoid new strains of the virus slipping into the community. He said a new strain could undo the progress the county and region have made over the past several months with slowing the spread of COVID-19.
“We need to make sure we get the virus out of this community before it morphs into these other strains that we see coming into the United States,” Kern said.
The county’s Emergency Management Agency Director Herb Simmons said the mass vaccination site at the Belle-Clair Fairgrounds is vaccinating roughly 2,500 people a day and that number could grow. The fairgrounds is staffed by health department workers and Illinois National Guard members and has been praised by the state for using “best practices.”
In Madison County, around 2,340 people get a shot at the Gateway Convention Center on an average day, according to an Illinois National Guard member who spoke to reporters March 22 at the site. Fifty-two members of the Illinois National Guard and 37 health department employees help with the vaccinations.
Q: What’s being done to combat the possible resurgence?
A: The Illinois health department is mobilizing ``rapid response” vaccination teams in five counties in northern Illinois to quickly administer doses and curb spread of the virus. Additionally, the state health department is allowing counties to immediately expand vaccination eligibility to anyone 16 years or older at their own discretion, a move the department’s director hopes will help curb new case spread.
Ezike, the state health director, said slow demand for vaccinations in some counties is a cause for concern. Health officials hope that expanding eligibility and increasing the vaccine supply in those areas will help stop a resurgence of COVID-19.
“The number one goal for the state is to get as many people vaccinated, as quickly and safely as possible in order to stay ahead of variants,” Ezike said. “This shift is similar to what we saw when expanding vaccine eligibility from Phase 1B to Phase 1B plus where some parts of the state were ready to move forward, while others were not. Each county is different, and local health departments know better how to vaccinate people in their communities as soon as and as equitably as possible.”
St. Clair County officials on Friday announced the county would begin vaccinating people 16 years or older in response to IDPH’s announcement. To sign up for a vaccine appointment in St. Clair County, visit www.co.st-clair.il.us/departments/health-department/covid-19-information.
In the metro-east, the case rate has remained steady, hovering around a 3-3.3% case positivity average for more than a week.
Q: Do the current vaccines work against the new COVID-19 variants?
A: There are three approved COVID-19 vaccinations and five known coronavirus variants in the U.S. According to the World Health Organization, the currently available vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson Jannsen vaccines) are still expected to provide “at least some protection” against new virus variants.
Scientists say it’s still early and they are continuing to study the data. But protection comes from the broad immune response the vaccines provide to people who are vaccinated, according to the World Health Organization. A determination of how effective each vaccine is against each strain has yet to be determined.
As of Friday, no reports of COVID-19 variants had been reported by the Illinois Department of Public Health in the metro-east.
Q: I can’t travel. How will I be vaccinated?
A: Health departments in Madison and St. Clair counties and across the state are developing mobile task forces to vaccinate those who cannot travel to get their shots. Officials ask that people who are homebound contact their local health department.
“We are identifying mobile ‘strike teams,’ if you will. Teams that can go to individuals who can’t meet the vaccine in an outside location,” Ezike said. “We’re trying to work with the local health departments and community-based organizations to identify who those individuals are that need to be reached.”
In St. Clair and Madison counties, health officials say they are developing lists that the counties will use to vaccinate those who cannot leave their homes. To reach the St. Clair County Health Department, call 618-825-4447. To reach the Madison County Health Department, call 618-650-8445.
“We have a group at the health department that is putting a list of these individuals together so we can address anyone who can’t get out to one of our vaccination sites,” said St. Clair County Health Department Emergency Readiness Coordinator Sam Bierman. “We do have those citizens in St. Clair County, and figuring out the best and most efficient way to get to them is high on our list.”
“We want to make sure nobody falls through the cracks,” added county Emergency Management Agency Director Herb Simmons.