Lightfoot gave some other examples of people eligible for 1C, including restaurant and hotel employees, hairdressers, clergy and delivery and warehouse employees. The city will continue to vaccinate eligible persons in 1A and 1B, as well as the elderly, one of the most vulnerable populations.
“You have to wear a facial cover when you leave. It is extremely important, the most important tool we have to help prevent the spread of the virus,” said the mayor.
The Chicago vaccination campaign began on December 15, covering health professionals, as well as residents and employees at long-term care facilities. Phase 1B, which included essential frontline workers and those over 65, began on January 25.
But officials have avoided expanding eligibility for those aged 16 to 64 with underlying health problems. While other parts of the state made this population eligible, Chicago and Cook County officials cited the low supply as the reason for not moving forward.
As of March 16, 10.4% of the Chicago population was fully vaccinated and 19.3% had received their first dose.
Chicago is behind the state average: 12.6% of Illinois’ general population is fully vaccinated.
The positivity rate for the Chicago test went up slightly over the past week. It is now 2.9 percent, compared to a seven-day continuous average of 2.7 last week. This is still well below the city’s 5 percent positivity target, but the average daily cases also increased 10 percent compared to last week. The city has an average of 292 cases a day, compared with 266 last week. Arwady said he would like to see that number drop below 200.
Arwady also sought to wipe out social media rumors that doses on the United Center website run by FEMA were being wasted or that eligibility there had changed to help use available doses.
“No vaccine is going to waste at the United Center, and yes, we are fully booked at the United Center. We are scheduling up to 5,700 appointments per day, ”she said. The site continues to offer only Pfizer vaccines. “There is a capacity to make 6,000. We kept it at 5,700, in part because we will open a drive-through next week.”
Chicago’s list of underlying conditions that make people eligible for 1C is slightly broader than that of the state, Arwady said. The state allows people with diabetes, lung, heart disease, chronic kidney disease and cancer; transplant recipients of solid organs, pregnant women, smokers and disabled people who were not included in the previous stages to receive the vaccine. The city’s eligibility will also include people with HIV, liver disease, obesity (body mass index over 30) and schizophrenia.
The Cook County Department of Public Health also announced today that Cook’s suburb will move to phase 1B + on Monday, March 22. This means that eligibility will be expanded for those aged 16 and over with underlying health problems, but not yet for other essential workers.
Eligible underlying conditions include: cancer, chronic kidney disease, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), diabetes, heart disease, obesity, lung disease, sickle cell disease, as well as individuals with disabilities, pregnant women, smokers and those who are immunocompromised from a transplant of organ.
“In the past few weeks, we have seen great progress in vaccinating vulnerable groups in phase 1b, including our elderly,” said Dr. Rachel Rubin, senior medical officer and co-leader of the Cook County Department of Public Health in a communiqué More than 68 percent of the elderly in Cook’s suburb received their first dose. More info here.
High-quality journalism is not free. Consider signing up for Crain’s.