Beset by confusion and disorganization in many of our states, our country’s most ambitious vaccination campaign ever has not yet met with its 2020 promises of delivery and number of inoculations. Of more than 12 million shipped doses from Pfizer and Moderna Pharmaceutical Houses, federal officials tell us that only about 2.8 million doses have actually been administered. The Wall Street Journal stated, according to government officials and health experts, “The shortfall is due in part to a lag in reporting data using new tools….but as the federal government has left it to states to determine what to do with vaccines it ships to them, and with some states pushing decision-making to local health departments and hospitals (already over-burdened by the virus), the process has gone far from smoothly.”
Nevertheless, having already begun Phase 1A Program issuing vaccinations to Ilinois’ first responders, Phase 1B was announced on January 6 by Governor J.B. Pritzker. With this Phase 1B of the inoculations, Pritzker is pledging to forge ahead in supplying (1. the state’s other essential workers with shots. This group includes police, educators, postal service individuals, grocery store workers, and others who can’t work remotely due to their job requirements. ***Also found here are individuals with high-risk medical conditions.
Our governor next addressed his (2. senior age group included in Phase 1B. The governor believes that this Phase1B will include, also at an earlier date, larger numbers of people than recommended from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). He states “For (the) last 10 months, we’ve seen vulnerability to COVID of our entire population of seniors.” Pritzker continues “Importantly, the average age of death is much lower than 75 for Black and Latino Illinoisans.” The below statistics explain the average age of those who have died from the virus which varied greatly by their race:
81 — Average age for White people who died of Covid-19 in Illinois
72 — Average age for Black people who died of Covid-19 in Illinois
68 — Average age for Latino people who died of Covid-19 in Illinois
As a result of these stats, Governor Pritzker says that the state’s next phase will include Illinois residents 65 years of age. He is hoping to begin the rollout in the next few weeks.
Illinois plans to use the National Guard to help with mass vaccination sites across the entire state. As of January 5, our state has administered 207,106 doses. This number includes some second doses for those first vaccinated in December, 2020.
