Over Half Of Illinois Residents Over 16 Have Now Been Vaccinated

SPRINGFIELD, IL — More than half of Illinois residents eligible for a coronavirus vaccine have received at least one dose, according to public health officials. Meanwhile, state data released this week shows a dip in the daily average number of vaccines and a spike in the number of vaccination doses that have gone to waste.

Data from the Illinois Department of Public Health shows, as of Friday, more than 51.5 percent of people aged 16 or over have been vaccinated with their first dose. Nearly 78 percent of seniors have been jabbed.

More than 3.5 million Illinois residents have been fully vaccinated — 28 percent of the state's total population of all ages. That includes more than 67 percent of the population of those over 65 and 27.5 percent of the population of those aged 16 to 64, according to the public health agency.

The rate of daily vaccinations has dipped slightly over the past 10 days, with the rolling average falling from a peak of nearly 123,000 a day to just over 123,000 a day as of Wednesday, the most recent day where data is available from IDPH.

Meanwhile, more than half of all vaccine doses classified as wasted in Illinois were reported in the week ending Wednesday.

The number of COVID-19 vaccine doses IDPH has listed as unusable more than doubled — increasing from 3,128 on April 14 to 6,529 on April 21.

Out of the 3,401 recently wasted doses, about 1,800 were attributed to being out of the freezer too long or not used within the required timeframe. Another 900 doses were wasted due to being "out of the temperature range."

So far, only the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is the only one authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in people under 18. Pfizer's vaccine, which requires ultracold storage, can be administered to those aged 16 and 17. The company has already requested FDA approval for use on children aged 12 to 15. Clinical trials of the Moderna vaccine on children under 16 are underway.

A Centers for Disease Control Committee panel Friday to recommend ending the pause on administration of the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which has been linked with rare blood clots. The manufacturer announced during the meeting that the FDA has approved a possible warning label for the J&J jab.

With more than three out of four seniors and half of the 16-and-over population now at least partially inoculated against the coronavirus Illinois would be eligible to move toward full opening and an end to capacity restrictions — but for the state's rising rates of new hospital admissions of people with COVID-19-like illness, or CLI, and number of people hospitalized with confirmed cases of COVID-19.

RELATED: Surging Virus, Falling ICU Capacity May Delay IL Reopening

Public health officials have set thresholds of 150 new CLI admissions and 750 patients hospitalized statewide.

But there were 229 new CLI admissions a day on Tuesday, and 2,112 people with COVID-19 in Illinois hospitals as of Thursday, the most recent days where data is available.

Both figures have been increasing for weeks, but this week's data offers the first indication that hospitalizations from the latest wave of infections may have crested.

The number of hospitalized coronavirus patients was down by 176 from a peak Tuesday, and 11 fewer patients with CLIs were admitted to the state's hospitals Tuesday compared to an April 16 peak.

Capacity in intensive care units in Illinois hospitals is also reaching a key threshold, declining from 27 percent to 20 percent in the past month.

The number of daily cases has also begun to decline after rising from mid-March. The rolling average of daily new cases hit a peak of nearly 3,400 in mid-April.

There has been no significant change in the number of daily deaths or new cases. Public health officials have been reporting an average of about 20 deaths a day in recent weeks.