All Essential Workers In Wilmette Eligible For COVID-19 Vaccine

WILMETTE, IL — Public health officials in suburban Cook County Wednesday expanded COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to all essential workers in Phase 1c, the final vaccine priority group before appointments open up for anyone 16 or older next month.

Wilmette residents who work in retail, food service, transportation, construction, manufacturing and more can now make appointments to receive vaccines, according to the Cook County Department of Public Health. Those who live in Chicago or outside the county, but work in the suburbs, are also eligible.

Public health officials estimate there are an additional 100,000 essential workers who live in suburban Cook County who will become eligible as part of the expansion, bringing the total number of eligible residents in the Cook County suburbs in Phases 1b, 1b+ and 1c to about 1 million.

"Cook County Health has administered more than 350,000 vaccinations to date; well on our way to our goal [of 1] million," Cook County Health CEO Israel Rocha said. "We’re proud to contribute so significantly to the vaccination of over 620,000 suburban Cook County residents so far."

A list of jobs that qualify as part of the Phase 1c group is available from the Cook County Department of Public Health.

Chicago entered Phase 1c on Monday. Depending on local supply and demand for vaccines, health departments outside of Chicago are permitted to expand eligibility to anyone aged 16 and up. Several downstate counties have already begun doing so.

Another 1.2 million suburban Cook County residents are expected to become eligible in less than two weeks.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has directed all health departments outside of Chicago to move to Phase 2 of the vaccine rollout starting April 12, making all residents aged 16 or older eligible for the vaccine. It remains to be seen if it will be a binding mandate.

Public health officials in Chicago — since it receives its supply separately from the state health department and is not bound by the governor's vaccine pronouncements — have until a federal deadline of May 1 to expand eligibility.

On Tuesday, the state's seven-day rolling average number of vaccine doses administered per day hit an all-time high of more than 109,000 jabs.

About 426,000 suburban Cook County residents have been fully vaccinated, according to data from the Illinois Department of Public Health. The county's inoculation rate is about a fifth of a percentage point above the state as a whole.

Public health officials recommend all Wilmette and Kenilworth pre-register for vaccine appointment information from the county. About 1.2 million people have already done so, according to a spokesperson.

Data from the Cook County Department of Public Health shows 58 percent of doses have gone to women — and residents of the northern Cook County suburbs, not counting Skokie or Evanston, made up more than half of all people jabbed.

---

“We are making great progress in our vaccinations: over 25 percent of all residents in suburban Cook County and more than 80 percent of those age 65 and older have received at least one dose,” Dr. Rachel Rubin, senior medical officer and co-lead of the county health department, said in a statement announcing the expansion.

“We are building an impressive county-wide system to administer vaccines to as many of our 2.5 million residents who want one and will be able to equitably and efficiently administer them if the vaccine supply can match the demand,” she added.

In Wilmette, the number of new confirmed coronavirus cases rose by more than 76 percent, and per capita infection rates in the village have exceeded the county as a whole since the first week of February, according to data from the county public health department.

---

For the first time Wednesday, state public health officials began also reporting the number of wasted or otherwise unusable doses.

According to data reported to the state, there have been 1,645 doses of vaccine wasted statewide out of the first 5.8 million doses administered.

Also Wednesday, the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office announced the county's 10,000th death due to COVID-19. It has been barely a year since the state recorded its first death from coronavirus — 61-year-old retired nurse Patricia Frieson, of Chicago, died March 16, 2020.

Of those that have died since, more than 80 percent were people over the age of 60, and 57 percent of fatalities were men.

They include 19 Wilmette residents, the most recent of which was reported on Feb. 27, according to the medical examiner's office. No Kenilworth residents have died from COVID-19.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said she mourned with the 10,000 families who have suffered the loss of a member during the past year.

“While there is light at the end of the tunnel," Preckwinkle said, "this is a sobering reminder that the virus is still with us and that we must continue to remain vigilant until we’ve achieved herd immunity.”