Yesterday, DuPage County issued a statement alerting the public that COVID-19 vaccines will be in short supply in the next few weeks. Today, Will County says they have received similar information.
The Will County Health Department will likely have very few first dose appointments available over the next three weeks, due to a smaller-than-expected number of doses received. A press release from the department called the supply of both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines “sporadic” since the first doses arrived in December.
“With over 181,000 having registered with our on-line information form, it shows that numerous Will County residents desire to have the vaccine, and that’s exactly what we wanted all along,” said WCHD Executive Director Sue Olenek. “However, with vaccine doses all over the state coming in at much less than hoped for, it’s going to take longer for many on the list to be contacted to make their first appointment. We continue to ask for patience and understanding from all. This is a vaccine-driven process. No matter how many wonderful volunteers we have, and we have an amazing team here, we still need the vaccine.”
Focusing On Second Doses
The county will have enough vaccine to administer the second dose for all who have already gotten their first dose.
“Unfortunately, we are currently receiving very small allocations of vaccine for first dose appointments over the next three weeks,” said WCHD Director of Mass Vaccination Cindy Jackson. “During that three-week period, we will receive 6,000 to 10,000 doses of vaccine each week that is allocated for second dose appointments only. This vaccine shortage has already resulted in our inability to open more vaccination clinics next week, but thankfully, due to planning efforts, it has not resulted in cancelled appointments.”
Vaccination So Far
Will County has administered 82,546 doses of the vaccine and 21,431 Will County residents are now fully vaccinated. The latter number trails only Chicago, Cook County, and DuPage County, however, Will County’s percentage of the population that is vaccinated trails the state average 3.1% to 3.71%.
Naperville News 17’s Casey Krajewski reports.
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