31 Percent Of Will County Residents Are Fully Vaccinated

WILL COUNTY, IL — 31 percent of Will County's total population has been fully vaccinated, according to data from the Illinois Department of Public Health. That represents 214,610 county residents.

502,688 total doses were administered in the county by Thursday, which has a population of 692,310, according to data from the Illinois Department of Public Health. The state also shares data on its vaccine inventory, and the reported inventory for Will County is 44,269 with 36,393 of the reported inventory at the local health department, and 7,876 at community partner sites.

The county administered its highest number of doses on April 9, when 10,485 doses were given, the state's data shows. The county currently has a seven-day average of 4,403 doses administered.

Will County ranks fifth in terms of doses administered, trailing Chicago, and Cook and DuPage counties. Comparatively, Chicago has fully vaccinated 32.76 percent of its population, Cook County is at 35.24 percent, DuPage is at 38.12 percent and Lake County is at 30.80 percent.

Will County has opened its vaccine appointment registration to all residents 16 and older.

More than 9.6 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered statewide, with 33.61 percent of Illinois residents fully vaccinated, IDPH data shows.

On Thursday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced that the state's Bridge Phase will begin May 14, with a full reopening of the state starting in June.

Thursday's announcement came as COVID-19-related hospitalizations and new cases of the coronavirus dropped across Illinois. The move to the "bridge phase" allow bars, restaurants, and other businesses to expand its capacity limits from where they have been under Phase 4 of the governor's Restore Illinois Plan.

Pritzker and IDPH Director Ngozi Ezike also announced plans to help doctor's offices apply for vaccine access so that family physicians will be able to administer vaccines to patients.

State officials are also encouraging pediatricians to apply to be able to administer vaccines in anticipation of approval of the Pfizer vaccine for ages 12 and up, which could happen in the coming days.

Patch editor Jeff Arnold contributed to this report.

• Bridge Phase To Start Next Week; Full Reopening In June: Pritzker