Over 5,600 People Have Received First Dose From Village Of Skokie

SKOKIE, IL — As the coronavirus case count and positivity rate in Skokie falls to its lowest level since before last fall's surge in infections, nearly 30 percent of preregistered residence in the first two COVID-19 vaccine priority groups had received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to data from the village.

As of Feb. 26, the most recent data available from the village, nearly 9,000 doses had been administered through the Skokie Health and Human Services Department to 5,654 people, with 3,325 of them now fully vaccinated with Moderna vaccines.

Director Mike Charley reported about 20,000 people qualifying as part of Phase 1a or Phase 1b had preregistered for vaccination through the village out of a total of 32,000 sign-ups. Those on the list who qualify for each phase are contacted in the order that they registered as soon as doses become available.

The village's vaccination site at 7700 Frontage Road has the capacity to safely administer more than 1,000 doses a day, he said.

"We can push through about 200 persons through our clinic per hour, which is really extraordinary," Charley told trustees at Monday's village board meeting.

"Our current clinic has the capacity to vaccinate way more people than the vaccine we're getting, and we have plans of increasing our hours and increasing our days so we push out as much vaccine as possible when it is available," he said.

In addition to the vaccines administered at village clinics, a total 3,750 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech were sent to NorthShore University HealthSystem so they could vaccinate their staff as part of Phase 1a.

Another 300 doses of Moderna were given to federally qualified health centers serving the underinsured community of Skokie.

Limited supplies have prevented village staff from scheduling more first-dose point of dispensing, or POD, clinics, with Skokie received zero doses during one week last month.

"It's hard to vaccinate people when you don't have vaccine," Charley said, assuring trustees the village was not stockpiling doses of vaccine.

Skokie is one of three suburban Cook County municipalities with its own certified health department. That means it is not under the jurisdiction of the Cook Count Department of Public Health.

Charley said the vaccine was being fairly allocated between health departments based on the population they served, with the exception of certain especially hard-hit areas such as Cicero where National Guard-run PODs have been established.

"The distribution of vaccine in Illinois is population-based, so if you looked at the numbers, so DuPage County Health Department or Cook County Health Department would receive the same amount of vaccine as the village of Skokie based on population," Charley said.

The Skokie health director's remarks contrasted with those of Evanston Health and Human Services Director Ike Ogbo, who complained Thursday that the state was allocating vaccine doses unfairly and said he was pleading with state officials to increase his city's allotment.

Residents and staff of Skokie's congregate living homes, including seven long-term care and assisted living facilities and 30 group homes, have all gotten at least one dose if they want it, Charley explained.

"Those are our two major populations of congregate care, and I think we're hitting them all," Charley said.

Public health officials plan to eventually transition responsibility for administering vaccines from local health departments to health care providers by the fall, Charley said.

No plans for any first-dose vaccination clinics next week at the village's site have yet been announced.

A village spokesperson has not responded to an inquiry about whether staff planned to begin posting vaccination data to the "COVID-19 data" section of its website.

Village staff encouraged those interested in assisting with vaccination efforts to sign up to volunteer with the Skokie Medical Reserve Corps, which the health director reported already includes about 60 medical professionals.

All Illinois residents over 65 can sign up for an appointment for a vaccine at the federally operated United Center mass vaccination site.

Starting 4:30 p.m. Sunday, remaining appointments open to everyone in the state's expanded Phase 1b+, which includes front-line essential workers and those under age 65 with underlying health conditions that increase the risk of COVID-19 complications.

RELATED: United Center Vaccination Registration Opens: How To Sign Up