Limited Vaccine Shipment A Challenge: Will County Health Dept

PLAINFIELD, IL — The shipment of coronavirus vaccines received by Will County is not sufficient, according to County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant.

The Will County Health Department said that it has been receiving a scant more than 2,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine incrementally which is making vaccinating its nearly 700,000 residents a great challenge.

Currently, the health department is working to schedule approximately 100,000 residents over the age of 65 for their first and second doses of the life-saving vaccine and with consistently limited supply deliveries, many residents are scared and frustrated with the delay in receiving the vaccines.

Bertino-Tarrant said the Illinois Department of Public Health is also working with some local pharmacies such as Walgreen’s, CVS, Meijers, and Jewel Osco. The executive’s office is working with the health department and the Emergency Management Agency to be prepared with mass vaccination sites to immediately start when the supply of vaccines become more available.

"Please understand patience is needed as the supply currently does not meet the demand," she said. "We want to be fully staffed and ready to get as many shots in arms as possible when we receive larger shipments of the vaccine. It seems like a race against time. We want to protect as many of our residents as possible as quickly as we can."

The county is set to receive more doses in the coming weeks, with shipments of about 6,000 to 10,000. In a facts sheet distributed to members of the Will County Board, the county said a typical shipment will be divided roughly with 60 percent of doses sent to providers and the other 40 percent reserved for residents’ second doses.

With the increased number of vaccines delivered, there should be enough for the second round of shots for those who have already received their first doses.

Starting Monday, local health departments and other COVID-19 vaccine providers began to receive a larger share of second doses to accommodate a greater number of second doses and with federal shipments of the vaccine to Illinois remaining limited, this will mean providers will receive a smaller share of first doses, according to IDPH.

Based on federal projections of vaccine shipments, IDPH anticipates these allocations will hold steady for the next several weeks, before allocations of first doses can once again increase in March.

Supply issues aside, the county has also been inundated with calls from concerned residents and until recently, the health department did not have the resources to meet such high demands. With that in mind, last week, the Will County Board committee that is in charge of distributing more than $100 million the county received through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, approved a $1.6 million contract with Harris and Harris for operating a call center that will be charged with fielding intake requests and providing follow-up calls to remind residents of their appointment and when they can schedule their second dose.

More than 21,431 people in Will County were fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by Thursday, according to data from IDPH. That represents about 3.10 percent of the county's total population.

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