'High Hardship' Communities Prioritized For Coronavirus Vaccines

LAKE FOREST, IL — More than 2,250 patients had received their first dose of coronavirus vaccine at Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital as of Friday, hospital officials announced.

Staff at Lake Forest Hospital recently converted a portion of the vacant former hospital building into a vaccine clinic. Hospital staff are also offering a valet service for those with parking needs and a transport team to help those in wheelchairs, according to a spokesperson.

Operations Director Paige Polakow said the hospital's vaccination process had been smooth so far.

“Seeing the pure joy on a patient who is starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel makes all the hard work worth it,” Polakow said in a statement.

“They can’t wait to hug their families and see their grandchildren — many haven’t left their houses since the pandemic began," she added. "The patients also feel like they are helping and doing their part to eventually ending this global pandemic."

Patients are invited to schedule vaccination appointments in an order determined by the health care system, which is currently only dosing established patients in its network over the age of 65.

Phase 1b of Illinois' COVID-19 vaccine rollout, which launched on Jan. 25, also includes frontline essential workers as a priority group, but they are not included in the hospital's current distribution plan.

According to a release, Northwestern Medicine officials have decided to prioritize patients based on age and ZIP code.

"The criteria is to ensure a safe, efficient and equitable vaccination process for Northwestern Medicine patients," it said. "Currently, patients invited are established patients over 65 years of age from high hardship zip codes and patients over 75 years of age from all other zip codes."

No numbers of doses allocated to Lake Forest Hospital from the Lake County Health Department for this or future weeks was available Monday from the hospital spokesperson, who explained the hospital's allotment amount "changes regularly."

Hospital officials said the vaccination administration process at Lake Forest Hospital has a minimal wait time and a consistent flow of patients. After receiving a jab in a private room, patients are escorted to an observation room to wait 15 minutes in case of any adverse reactions.

As of Monday, there are at least 11,664 Lake County residents who have received both vaccine doses, representing 1.66 percent of the county's population. More than 30,700 others have received just the first vaccine.

According to data from the Illinois Department of Public Health, the seven-day rolling average number of vaccines administered per day in the county fell Sunday for the first time since Jan. 18.