St Louis Expands Vaccine Eligibility Despite Slow Distribution

CBS St. Louis

January 25, 2021

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Friday that the state's COVID-19 vaccination program would expand next week to include the second tier of priority recipients. More than 616,000 first doses of the two-round vaccine have been administered, although inoculations for a priority population — residents of long-term care facilities — lag behind, Pritzker said during a briefing in Chicago on the coronavirus pandemic. Pritzker said while shots for the first phase continue, officials will sign up the next lot, referred to as Phase 1b. The state is closely following vaccine-priority recommendations of a committee of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “You will be eligible to get vaccinated if you’re 65 and or if you’re a worker who is classified by the CDC as a front-line essential worker such as teachers, first responders and grocery workers,” Pritzker said. “This does not mean, however, that right away you will be able to get the vaccine as quickly as you have in the past gotten your flu shot.” Vaccinations in Illinois have been slowly rolling out for three weeks while the pandemic continues. Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the state public health director, reported 7,042 fresh cases of coronavirus illness Friday, the highest single-day number in two weeks. There were 95 deaths, bringing total fatalities since March to 18,615, among 1,093,375 infections. Vaccination information for the expanded program will be available on an Illinois Department of Public Health website staring Monday. But state officials are expecting a shipment of 126,000 doses of vaccine next week, enough for just 4% of the Phase 1b population. And Phase 1a shots, set aside for in-the-trenches health care employees and those in long-term care facilities, continue. Officials estimate there are 850,000 people eligible for the first phase. It's been slow going for the elderly in nursing or skilled-care facilities, places that have hosted some of the most dreadful outbreaks of the coronavirus illness. The federal program that links administers pharmacies handling aspects of vaccinations for long-term care facilities has delivered 524,000 doses, fewer than 94,000 of the residents eligible have been vaccinated. New cases, such as the more-than 7,000 reported Friday, are still more than double what they were during the frightening opening days of the pandemic last spring, but Friday's total is less than half the high point reached in mid-November. Those totals prompted Pritzker to impose the tightest restrictions on social interaction statewide from mid-autumn on, but as of Friday, numbers of infections, hospitalizations and other measures had improved enough to qualify six of the 11 COVID-19-monitoring regions for fewer rules.

There were other positive numbers to report in the campaign. Hospitalizations fell to 3,172, with 661 inpatients in intensive care, the lowest in both categories since the last weekend in October. There were 348 on ventilators, a number that hasn't fallen that low since Nov. 5.