Illinois to distribute first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine to 50 counties with highest death rates, possibly by mid-December
Illinois plans to distribute its initial allocation of roughly 109,000 doses of a new COVID-19 vaccine to the 50 counties across the state with the highest death rates from the virus, the state’s top public health official said Friday.
In the Chicago area, that includes Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake and Will counties. It also includes Kankakee County but not McHenry.
First, though, the Pfizer vaccine needs emergency use authorization from the federal Food and Drug Administration, which could come as soon as Thursday. If that happens, Illinois expects to receive its first shipment sometime during the week of Dec. 13.
While the possibility of the first doses of an effective vaccine being administered within weeks is among the most promising news of the year, Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday attempted to temper expectations about how quickly the immunization, which for the Pfizer vaccine requires two doses given three weeks apart, will be widely available.
“No single person will be fully vaccinated even by Christmas, and it will likely be months before people with low-risk factors for COVID-19 see their first dose,” Pritzker said at his daily coronavirus briefing.
Indeed, if Illinois receives the full 109,000 doses, which is not guaranteed, it would only be enough to vaccinate a small portion of the state’s nearly 655,000 front-line health care workers and more than 109,000 long-term care residents. Based on recommendations from the federal government, those two groups are first in line to be inoculated.
Of those initial doses, 23,000 would go directly to the city of Chicago, which is managing its own distribution plan in coordination with the state. The remaining 86,000 would be distributed to 10 regional medical centers for distribution to local health departments. The local health departments, in turn, have state-approved plans for administering the vaccine.
The largest share of the initial vaccine shipment, 32% or about 27,300 doses, will go to NorthShore Highland Park Hospital and be distributed from there. That will be followed by Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, which is expected to receive 19% of the initial shipment.
Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn and Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin also are among the 10 regional medical centers, along with downstate hospitals in Rockford, Peoria, Springfield, Urbana, Belleville and Carbondale.
The 50 counties — just shy of half of the state’s total of 102 — with the highest per capita coronavirus death rate are spread widely throughout the state and include the most populous counties as well as some of the most sparsely populated.
Several downstate counties where regional medical centers serving as distribution hubs are located, including Sangamon, Champaign and Peoria counties, are not on the 50-county priority list.
If all goes well, the FDA could grant emergency use authorization for a second vaccine, developed by Moderna, on Dec. 17, with the first distribution to Illinois and other states during the week of Christmas.
Unlike the Pfizer vaccine, which presents some logistical challenges because it has to be stored at ultralow temperatures that require special equipment, the Moderna vaccine can be stored at normal freezer temperature.
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said it could take roughly a month to vaccinate everyone who qualifies for the initial round, though Pritzker said he hesitates to put a time frame on it.
The state is awaiting further recommendations from the federal government on who should be in the next round, which would include “essential” workers.
The positive news about the forthcoming vaccine comes as Illinois and the rest of the country remains in the throes of a fall surge of the virus, one which experts expect could get worse in the coming days as a result of transmission at Thanksgiving gatherings where people ignored public health precautions.
Illinois reported 148 coronavirus-related deaths Friday, bringing the average number of daily deaths over the past week to its highest level of the pandemic.
The seven-day average of daily deaths reached 135 on Friday, based on preliminary figures from the Department of Public Health, exceeding the previous record average of 123 deaths per day set for the week ending Thursday, after adjusting for deaths that were reported Thursday but later removed from the count.
State data released Friday also shows that the weekly tally of deaths and cases at long-term care facilities both were the highest ever reported in the pandemic — even worse than the worst weeks of the spring in early May.
In the past week, the state tallied 480 deaths of residents in Illinois’ nursing homes, assisted living and other long-term care facilities, along with more than 4,500 new cases of the virus detected in residents.
It’s unclear how much of the boost may be related to a lag in reporting deaths after the Thanksgiving holiday, but the new weekly death tally was nearly double from the week before, which itself was roughly in line with the already high levels in prior weeks.
The new case count also was notably more than the worst week in the spring — also in early May — although it comes as facilities are testing far more frequently than they were in the spring when tests were more scarce.
Those numbers underscore why residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities are being put at the front of the line for the new vaccine.
In all, the state has recorded 12,974 COVID-19 deaths since March.
Illinois also recorded 10,526 new confirmed and probable cases of the coronavirus on Friday, bringing the total number of known cases to 770,088 since the start of the pandemic.
Over the past week, the state has averaged 9,289 cases per day, down from a seven-day average of 10,095 daily cases a week earlier. The lower case numbers are partly attributed to fewer people getting tested over the long Thanksgiving weekend.
A recent downward trend in hospitalizations also appears to be continuing.
As of Thursday night, there were 5,453 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Illinois, down from a peak of 6,175 on Nov. 20 but still well above the peak during the first wave of the pandemic in the spring.
Chicago Tribune’s Joe Mahr contributed.
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