Will Co. Officials Want Answers For 'Such Little' Vaccine Supply

WILL COUNTY, IL — Officials in Will County are questioning the low supply of COVID-19 vaccines that various local providers have received. During a board meeting Wednesday, Sue Olenek, the executive director of the Will County Health Department, talked about the discrepancy in the number of doses they have received in relation to the county's population.

"With Will County being an extremely high-population county in Illinois, it’s really unusual that we would be provided with such little vaccine," she said.

Board member Rachel Ventura asked if Olenek had received any explanation for this from the Illinois Department of Public Health.

"I've asked that question more than once," Olenek said.

She also said that after reaching out to her counterpart in DuPage County, she learned that they received larger shipments. Even though DuPage County has a larger population than Will County, by more than 200,000 people, it’s managed to vaccinate a higher percentage of its residents.

Olenek said the IDPH has not shared how it calculates the number of vaccine doses each county receives.

Unavailability of more vaccines was why the county decided to not expand its vaccine eligibility under Phase 1B, after Gov. J.B. Pritzker had announced that in light of a steadily increasing federal vaccine supply, Illinois planned to expand Phase 1B eligibility on Feb. 25 to people who have comorbidities and underlying conditions as defined by the CDC. In addition, the state will also prioritize individuals with disabilities.

As of Sunday, Will County has fully vaccinated over 46,000 people, which is 6.69 percent of its entire population of 690,000. On average, providers in the county have been administering about 3,500 vaccines on a rolling daily basis, according to the IDPH data. In Lake County, which has a population of around 700,000, the rolling average is about 4,300 per day and in n DuPage County, it’s about 6,500 per day.

Will County Board Speaker Mimi Cowan said she was drafting a letter asking for an explanation from the IDPH, Gov. JB Pritzker’s office and local state legislators.

"We're just seeking to understand how the allocations are being made," she said. "Maybe there is a logical reason for that. We'd like to know what it is."

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