88% Of Evanston Seniors Have Received At Least One Vaccine Dose

EVANSTON, IL — Citing data from the Illinois Department of Public Health, city officials anticipate every Evanston senior citizen who wants a vaccine will be able to receive at least one dose by the end of the month.

Already more than 10,200 residents aged 65 or older have received their first dose, which represents 88 percent of Evanston seniors, Mayor Steve Hagerty said Thursday in a newsletter. A total of 56 percent of Evanston residents in the age group have been fully vaccinated.

Hagerty said state public health officials provided data to the city showing more than 20,900 Evanston residents had received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and about 12,400 had received a second dose.

That means 28 percent of Evanston's population — and 34 percent of those aged 16 and older — had gotten at least one jab, with 20 percent fully vaccinated.

"Based on current IDPH allocation projections," Hagerty said, "the City anticipates that nearly all residents 65 and older who wish to receive the vaccine will be able to receive at least their first dose by the end of March."

The data shows that vaccination rates for Evanston residents exceed those of suburban Cook County, where about 70 percent of the population aged 65 and over has received at least one dose, according to a spokesperson for the Cook County Department of Public Health.

In suburban Cook County as a whole, about 20 percent of residents have received at least one dose and 13 percent have been fully vaccinated, as of Thursday.

“We continue to add vaccination sites throughout our jurisdiction, which will allow us to vaccinate more people as larger amounts of the vaccine are received,” Dr. Kiran Joshi, co-chief of the suburban public health department, said in a statement. “Additionally, our mobile vaccination program will reach those who cannot travel to get their shots and get us closer to achieving herd immunity.”

Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced his administration would shift Illinois from a recently modified Restore Illinois Phase 4 to a "Bridge to Phase 5" stage as soon as 70 percent of Illinois residents aged 65 and up have received at least one dose. According to the governor's office, that number stood at 58 percent as of Thursday.

That equates to about 240,000 more senior citizens who must receive a first dose of vaccine before the state could advance to the bridge phase.

Pritzker also said the state could fully reopen when 50 percent of residents aged 16 and up have received at least one jab.

According to IDPH and census data, about 2.73 million people out of the state's approximately 10 million residents aged 16 and up have received at least one dose. About 100,000 doses a day are being administered across the state.

Cook County officials announced Wednesday that all Illinois residents — including Evanstonians — can now sign up for appointments at county-operated mass vaccination sites. Anyone in Phase 1b+, which includes those with pre-existing health conditions putting them at greater risk of coronavirus complications, can sign up for vaccines via vaccine.cookcountyil.gov.

Hagerty also announced that staff at Evanston/Skokie School District 65 and Evanston Township High School District 202 would be jabbed with doses from Walgreens Sunday at a vaccination clinic established with the help of Evanston-based Walgreen Health Solutions.

Officials at the high school district have announced plans to launch part-time in-person learning next month for the first time in more than a year. District 65 began offering hybrid learning last month.

"More than getting shots in the arms of our educators, it means getting our kids back in the classroom," the mayor said. "This will also allow our Health & Human Services Department to speed up vaccinations of early childhood educators, staff and other frontline essential workers as part of Phase 1B."