Lori Lightfoot, left, and Toni Preckwinkle appear on “Chicago Tonight” on May 14, 2018 and October 16, 2017, respectively. (WTTW News)
Chicago and Cook County do not have enough doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to extend their eligibility to Illinois residents with chronic health conditions and people with disabilities, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and President said Thursday morning of Cook County Board, Toni Preckwinkle, in a rare joint statement.
Gov. JB Pritzker announced Wednesday that the state would begin vaccinating residents with cancer, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, heart disease, sickle cell disease, lung disease and obesity on Feb. 25.
Chicago and Cook County continue to vaccinate those eligible in the first two phases of the vaccination effort: health care workers, long-term caregiver residents, and those over 65, according to Lightfoot and Preckwinkle.
“Our goal is to vaccinate as many people as quickly and efficiently as possible,” Lightfoot and Preckwinkle said. “That said, our biggest challenge in doing so is the very limited supply of vaccines we receive.
“At the moment we are not being given enough doses to allow us to expand our eligibility,” his statement continued.
Emily Bittner, the governor’s spokeswoman, said Pritzker “strongly believes that the most medically vulnerable people in our state should qualify for vaccination as soon as possible, and that it would be unfair to deny patients the vaccine.” medically vulnerable, such as cancer patients. ”
If federal officials approved Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine in the coming weeks, that would add about 100 million more doses to the country’s vaccine supply.
“Federal guidance already includes this vulnerable group and the governor is especially investing in expanding access because this group includes a disproportionately large proportion of vulnerable people of color,” Bittner said.
The governor’s action will allow local health departments “the ability to make plans to open appointments to this group of vulnerable residents,” according to the governor’s office.
If the city and county followed the plan set by the governor, it would add additional stress to a vaccination effort that has left a lot of trouble finding an appointment available.
“Doing so in Chicago and Cook County would add more than a million more people to (the current vaccination eligibility list) and the result would be that those currently eligible, including seniors, age, front-line essential workers and those who have our most burdened COVID communities, would have even more difficulty getting a vaccine, ”Lightfoot and Preckwinkle said.
Chicago Department of Public Health commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said Wednesday that the city only gets enough vaccine between 5% and 10% of Chicagoans who are already eligible.
Arwady said expanding eligibility may make sense in other parts of Illinois, where there is a lot to offer.
Under the city’s vaccine deployment plan, all essential workers, as well as Chicago citizens 16 and older with underlying health issues, will be able to get vaccinated starting March 29, if there is enough supply.
Arwady said more than 900,000 children would be eligible in the next phase of the effort. But the city does not have “close” enough of the vaccine to meet that demand, he added.
Chicago receives about 6,000 doses of the vaccine each day, an increase of about 300 doses, Arwady said.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]