March 16, 2021 – Health officials from around Illinois continue to relay the same message: more doses of COVID-19 vaccines are needed.
Medical spokespersons involved in the vaccination program testified to the Senate Health committee Monday as Illinois continues with Phase 1B Plus. An average of 102,147 vaccine doses were administered last week in Illinois, bringing the statewide total to just over 4.1 million.
Tonya Andricks, CEO of Crossing Healthcare, said the organization is in the same boat as many others around the state.
“We don’t have enough vaccine supply, and if you want the health centers to continue to try to bring equity to the communities that have been hardest hit, we absolutely need a supply that is predictable and reliable,” Andricks said.
Governor J.B. Pritzker last week predicted that every Illinoisan could be eligible to be vaccinated by the end of April.
Starting this week, additional National Guard mobile operations will begin visiting rural communities with the capacity to deliver up to 1,000 doses of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine per day. The program begins in Fayette and Shelby counties before expanding to sites in Moultrie and Clay counties later this week.
