Evanston Essential Workers Eligible For Vaccine At County Sites

EVANSTON, IL — Public health officials in suburban Cook County Wednesday expanded COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to all essential workers in Phase 1c, the final vaccine priority group before appointments open up for anyone 16 or older next month.

Evanston residents who work in retail, food service, transportation, construction, manufacturing and more can now make appointments to receive vaccines, according to the Cook County Department of Public Health. Those who live in Chicago or outside the county, but work in the suburbs, are also eligible.

The Evanston Health and Human Services Department has not expanded eligibility for its clinics to the Phase 1c group, but county officials say Evanston residents and essential workers should still be able to register for appointments via the suburban Cook County health department.

Public health officials estimate there are an additional 100,000 essential workers who live in suburban Cook County who will become eligible as part of the expansion, bringing the total number of eligible residents in the Cook County suburbs in Phases 1b, 1b+ and 1c to about 1 million.

"Cook County Health has administered more than 350,000 vaccinations to date; well on our way to our goal [of 1] million," Cook County Health CEO Israel Rocha said. "We’re proud to contribute so significantly to the vaccination of over 620,000 suburban Cook County residents so far."

Chicago entered Phase 1c on Monday. Depending on local supply and demand for vaccines, health departments outside of Chicago are permitted to expand eligibility to anyone aged 16 and up. Several downstate counties have already begun doing so.

Another 1.2 million suburban Cook County residents are expected to become eligible in less than two weeks.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has directed all health departments outside of Chicago to move to Phase 2 of the vaccine rollout starting April 12, making all residents aged 16 or older eligible for the vaccine.

It remains to be seen if it will be a binding mandate, but city officials in Evanston indicated they intend skip Phase 1c and abide by Pritzker's request to open up vaccine eligibility to the entire adult population.

Public health officials in Chicago — since it receives its supply separately from the state health department and is not bound by the governor's vaccine pronouncements — have until the federal deadline of May 1 to expand eligibility.

On Tuesday, the state's seven-day rolling average number of vaccine doses administered per day hit an all-time high of more than 109,000 jabs.

About 426,000 suburban Cook County residents have been fully vaccinated, according to data from the Illinois Department of Public Health. The county's inoculation rate is about a fifth of a percentage point above the state.

Public health officials recommend all residents of Evanston pre-register for vaccine appointment information from the county. About 1.2 million people have already done so, according to a spokesperson.

Data from the county public health department shows 58 percent of doses have gone to women — and residents of the northern Cook County suburbs, not counting Skokie or Evanston, make up more than half of all people jabbed.

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In Evanston, the city's health department has administered nearly 13,500 vaccines — more than half of which went to local seniors — and distributed another 8,660 more to other local providers, according to data from the city.

Citing state data, city officials said this week that 91 percent of Evanston's approximately 11,500 residents 65 and older have received at least one dose, compared to 82 percent in the rest of suburban Cook County and 70 percent statewide.

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

The update city officials provided Wednesday, though it included only percentages, indicates about 350 Evanston seniors have been jabbed in the past two weeks.

Meanwhile, 44 percent of Evanston residents aged 16 and older have received at least a first jab, compared to a statewide average of 37 percent.

For the first time Wednesday, state public health officials began also reporting the number of wasted or otherwise unusable doses.

According to data reported to the state, there have been 1,645 doses of vaccine wasted statewide out of the first 5.8 million doses administered.

Also Wednesday, the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office announced the county's 10,000th death due to COVID-19. It has been barely a year since the state recorded its first death from coronavirus — 61-year-old retired nurse Patricia Frieson, of Chicago, died March 16, 2020.

Of those that have died since, more than 80 percent were people over the age of 60, and 57 percent of fatalities were men.

They include 114 Evanston residents, the most recent of which was reported on March 4, according to data from the city.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said she mourned with the 10,000 families who have suffered the loss of a member during the past year.

“While there is light at the end of the tunnel," Preckwinkle said, "this is a sobering reminder that the virus is still with us and that we must continue to remain vigilant until we’ve achieved herd immunity.”