As Illinois prepares to receive its first corona virus vaccine from the federal government this week, a group of social activists on Sunday called on the government’s J.P. Britzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot called on them to “fix big mistakes” in their vaccine distribution plans.
They say those programs should be more equitable for communities of color that are not affected by the virus.
A group of activists including the Alts. Janet Taylor (20th) and Byron Chico-Lopez (25th) asked Britsker and Lightfood to work to expand and build trust with the Black and Brown communities.
Earlier this month, Pritzker devised a state distribution plan for the first export of a Govt-19 vaccine. Illinois expects to receive 109,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine from the federal government by December 19th. About 23,000 or 21% of those vaccines will be shipped to Chicago, with the rest expected to travel to 50 counties. Corona virus mortality rates; It covers half the districts in the state.
Britsker and Lightfood will first vaccinate front-line hospital and health workers, followed by long-term care facility workers and residents, essential workers and those 65 or older with health conditions. The vaccine takes a few months to become widely available to the general public.
Most vaccine doses are expected to be administered at hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and drive-up Govt-19 testing sites. Alderman, however, held a news conference with other activists on Sunday, arguing that millions of African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans would give up or delay getting the vaccine without a comprehensive plan.
That is why they are demanding that the Pritzker and Lightfood Chicago weapons and other state and city buildings be used as locations for people to receive Govt-19 test and flu shots; In a press release, they said those sites should also be prepared as vaccine distribution sites.
This comes as state health officials announced Sunday about 7,216 new confirmed and possible COVID-19 cases and 115 corona virus-related deaths in the state.
The latest set of 63,648 trials reported last day to the Illinois Department of Public Health found new cases. It raises the state’s seven-day positive rate from 8.9% on Saturday to 9.1% on Sunday. Despite the slight improvement on the last day, that number – which experts use to measure how quickly the virus spreads – continues to be down from 12.8% last month, the highest since May. It has dropped the full percentage point since December 6th.
Hospitals in Illinois are also declining, leading to hospitals treating the highest number of COVID-19 patients they have seen during infections. As of Saturday night, 5,073 corona virus patients had been admitted to the hospital in Illinois, of whom 1,080 were in the intensive care unit and 612 on ventilators, officials said.
However, the government continues to feel the consequences of the resurgence of the late fall of the virus in terms of deaths. Of the 115 deaths Sunday, 28 were reported in the Chicago area; They include a Cook County man and woman in their 20s.
The state’s total death toll now stands at 14,291. Of those, 2,336 – more than 16% of the total – occurred from Thanksgiving.
Illinois has tested more than 11.7 million corona viruses since March, and 848,904 people have been confirmed to have the respiratory virus – about 6.7% of the state’s population.
Most people who reduce the virus have no symptoms at all. Authorities say 97% of Illinois victims of the virus have recovered.