97,367 Fully Vaccinated Against Coronavirus In Will County

WILL COUNTY, IL — Over 8,000 people in Will County became fully vaccinated over the past week. More than 97,000 Will County residents were fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by Wednesday, according to data from the Illinois Department of Public Health. That represents about 14.06 percent of the county's total population.

269,101 total doses were administered in the county by Wednesday, 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 39,120, with 25,168 of the reported inventory at the local health department, and 13,952 at community partner sites.The county administered its highest number of doses on March 26, when 7,137 doses were given, the state's data shows. The county currently has a seven-day average of 5,506 doses administered.

Will County ranks fifth in terms of doses administered, trailing Chicago, and Cook and DuPage and Lake counties. Comparatively, Chicago has fully vaccinated 13.84 percent of its population, Cook County is at 16.86 percent, DuPage is at 17.55 percent, and Lake County is at 14.13 percent.

More than 5.6 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered statewide, IDPH data shows. About 367,000 doses were given to residents and staff at Illinois long-term-care facilities through a federal program run by CVS and Walgreens.

Will County Health Department recently announced it had moved to Phase 1B+ of its vaccination plan. Health Department spokesperson Steve Brandy also said the department expects to expand eligibility to all Will County residents on April 12.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently shared the state's plan for full reopening, including a new "bridge to phase 5."

Moving from the modified Phase 4 to the Bridge phase requires at least 70 percent of Illinois residents aged 65 and older to have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, as long as infection rates and hospitalizations are not on the rise.

The state has now hit the 70 percent benchmark, but due to increasing COVID-19 hospitalizations, and daily case numbers, it will not move to the bridge phase yet, according to IDPH data.

As of Wednesday, 70.06 percent of Illinois residents 65 and older have at least one dose of the vaccine, and 36.85 percent of residents over 16 have at least one dose of the vaccine, IDPH data shows.