As many residents may already be aware, both Kane and McHenry Counties are in the process of gearing up to begin distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine to individuals of group 1B which includes those that are ages 65 and older.
With the first shipment of the Moderna vaccine having arrived in McHenry County on December 28 and since having been administered to the 1A healthcare workers at Mercyhealth and Northwestern Medicine facilities as well as long-term care living facilities who chose to work with the McHenry County Health Department (MCDH), residents of Sun City are left to wonder when they can expect to receive their first round of vaccinations.
Sun City Community Association of Huntley (SCCAH) Board of Directors Vice President Marilynn Berendt, stated that the Board had heard word from First Service Residential (FSR) Executive Director Deanna Loughran, in the Jan 6 Board of Directors meeting, that FSR has been in constant communication with Sun City’s Northwestern Wellness Center regarding a plan to begin distributing the vaccine to residents.
“The Executive Director mentioned [Sun City] is working closely with our business partner, Northwestern Health. The Wellness Center has not been given the plan or the timeline yet, but will inform us as soon as they do,” Berendt said.
While Northwestern Health facilities may not quite know when they will begin vaccinating into the next phases of distribution, what can be gathered is that the employee response from these medical centers has been positive, according to Northwestern Medicine’s Director of Media Relations and Communications, Chris King.
Unlike some medical facilities mandating the COVID-19 vaccine for healthcare employees, King explained that they do not require Northwestern Medicine staff, to get vaccinated.
“As background, the COVID-19 vaccination is not mandatory for our employees and employees must opt in if they chose to receive the vaccine. We are taking a tiered approach with employees working in COVID-19 units or with COVID positive patients being in the first grouping,” King said.
King added that since their facilities were still early in the first phase of the vaccination process, that it was much too soon to share hard data on the number of employees who chose to get vaccinated.
One other point of interest for some, might be to question whether Northwestern Medicine Facilities have the capacity to hold such a large quantity of vaccines. This is considering how MCDH had to order an ultra-cold freezer to ensure additional storage space prior to receiving the initial shipment of the vaccine. The reason for this being that both the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the Moderna vaccine require specific storage temperatures.
Though according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it appears that the Moderna vaccine that was distributed to McHenry County, has a much more stable shelf life and does not have to be kept frozen at nearly as cold of a temperature as the Pfizer vaccine. In fact, the Moderna vaccine can be stored in a refrigerator for up to 30 days.
“As a health system, several of our hospitals have the capacity and capabilities to handle both types of vaccine temperature requirements. This hasn’t been an issue for us,” King said.
Fellow Sun City resident Bonnie Bayser, who also serves on the Huntley Fire Protection District’s Board of Trustees, has expressed her delight in the number of individuals taking interest in receiving the vaccine. With a background in nursing, Bayser has been volunteering her time to administer the COVID-19 vaccine in clinics all throughout McHenry County for the 1A healthcare workers.
“People are very happy. They’re taking selfies or they’re asking people to take pictures [of them]. They’re very excited. I’m excited to see the number of people that are coming and I wish that more would come, that we would have more vaccines so we can give it out to more people,” Bayser said.
Bayser was the first person to receive the vaccine at a clinic in Woodstock and while she is unsure of when a vaccination clinic for Sun City will become available, she can offer her advice based on her medical expertise to residents weary about receiving it.
Bayser stated that she did not experience any side effects from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. She explained how she was even able to sleep on the same side where the vaccine was administered whereas she wouldn’t be able to do that otherwise, had it been the flu shot.
She continued, “I highly recommend the vaccine for anybody to get it, unless they have severe reactions or any anaphylactic reaction to a previous vaccine. But other than that, they should check with their doctor and if they still want [the vaccine], have it done in a hospital setting. Otherwise, I think the general public without any severe allergies, [I] highly recommend it. I think we need more people to get it so that we can stop this from passing it on to everybody and I think we need to squelch it.”
