COVID-19 vaccination average drops below 12,500 shots daily
Illinois COVID-19 vaccine providers are averaging fewer than 12,500 shots a day over the past week.
That's the lowest level since Jan. 6, 2021, when supply was incredibly limited.
According to Illinois Department of Public Health records, the state is now averaging 12,488 vaccine inoculations a day this week.
IDPH officials reported 11,793 more doses of the vaccine had been administered statewide Thursday.
Providers in Illinois have now administered 21,157,960 doses since the vaccine became available in December 2020.
Meanwhile, the lack of interest in the vaccine is leading to many doses going to waste.
An Associated Press report showed Illinois was one of several states reporting more than a million doses have gone to waste over the past year.
According to figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 67.6% of the state's 12.7 million residents are fully vaccinated. Of those fully vaccinated, 49.2% have received a booster dose.
Some of the lowest vaccination rates in the state are in the six southern Illinois counties that are listed as high risk on the CDC's COVID monitoring website that analyzes hospital availability and case growth.
All six counties have less than half their populations fully vaccinated, according to IDPH records.
Last week when the new metrics were unveiled, 21 Illinois counties were listed as high risk.
The drop in high risk counties is likely due to the decreasing demand on hospitals.
IDPH officials are reporting 843 COVID-19 patients were being treated in hospitals throughout Illinois, down 26.2% from a week ago.
Of those hospitalized, 153 are in ICU beds. That's also down 27.5% from last week.
The state health agency also reported 40 more COVID-19 deaths Friday, while 1,329 new cases have been diagnosed as well.
That brings the state's death toll from the virus to 32,926, with 3,037,199 infections recorded since the outset of the pandemic.
The state's seven-day case positivity rate is at 1.4%, down from 1.8% a week ago. The rate is the percentage of test results that yield a new case.