Vaccination of McHenry County seniors begins; all teachers set for Feb. 11 and 12

As the long-awaited Phase 1b rollout begins in McHenry County, local seniors have started scheduling appointments to get the vaccine this week and a local school district superintendent announced two dates in mid-February when all of the county's teachers will be able to receive their first dose.

Because of the limited availability of COVID-19 vaccine doses, the McHenry County Department of Health decided to prioritize these two groups, along with first responders, within the Phase 1b group rather than randomly offering appointments to the whole group, Public Health Administrator Melissa Adamson said Monday.

Adamson addressed the frustration that some residents are feeling about the limited availability of vaccine appointments, saying the partnerships the health department is forming - along with an anticipated increase in doses - will begin to increase availability.

"It's a very large group to vaccinate and so as vaccines start to come in more regularly, the state is indicating that as more federal supplies come in, we expect this bottleneck to start to open up and (for it to) get easier for people to find appointments in our community," Adamson said in a panel discussion on the COVID-19 vaccine hosted by the Northwest Herald Monday afternoon.

Phase 1b contains more than 70,000 people and includes those who work in the food, agricultural, manufacturing sectors, grocery store workers, corrections workers and inmates, U.S. postal workers and public transit workers in addition to teachers, those 65 and older, and first responders.

The decision to prioritize these two groups does not necessarily mean other essential workers fall to the back of the line, as the health department plans to open up appointments more broadly as soon as more vaccine doses are available to them, she said.

The health department had received 20,275 total doses of the vaccine as of Jan. 29 when it received its latest shipment, according to a Monday news release. Of those, 6,000 were set aside to provide second doses to Phase 1a populations.

The health department will finish providing the second doses of the vaccine to Phase 1a this week, but is offering unfilled appointments to senior residents whenever possible, Adamson said.

McHenry County has 44,000 residents ages 65 and older, and about 25,000 of them have enrolled with the health department, which is one of a few options of where they can look to receive the vaccine, Adamson said. The health department also has pushed out 9,400 doses to local hospitals, pharmacies and other partners to give eligible residents more access, according to the news release.

Local hospitals have already begun extending invitations to get the vaccine out to eligible patients, beginning with the most high-risk, and local pharmacies will do the same for senior residents who have enrolled with them.

Residents who do not see a primary care provider or a specialist for any of the county's three hospital systems - Northwestern Medicine, Advocate Aurora Health and Mercyhealth - should seek an appointment through a local pharmacy as well as the health department, Adamson said. She encouraged residents to sign up for the first appointment offered to them.

A full list of vaccination sites organized by ZIP code can be found on the state's website by searching for "vaccination locations." For the time being, appointments listed through the site links on this page are limited and tend to fill quickly, so Adamson recommended checking back frequently.

"As more vaccine comes in, you will start to see those (links) populate and we're expecting that sooner than later, but I don't have a precise timeline on that," she said.

The health department is in the process of setting up a call center designed to help walk senior residents through this process and to accommodate those who may not have internet access, she said.

About 6,560 McHenry County teachers are on track to be vaccinated over the course of two clinics Feb. 11 and 12 at Huntley High School and Woodstock North High School, Huntley School District 158 Superintendent Scott Rowe said during Monday's panel discussion.

This new vaccination date for teachers is sooner than the original time frame set for the third or fourth week of February, which Rowe said the district is excited about. The clinics will be offered through a partnership between local school districts, the health department and Medical Reserve Corps volunteers.

"In terms of the process, we go back to thinking about what schools are really good at," Rowe said. "We're good at organizing people and getting large groups of people into spaces."

Come mid-February, Woodstock North will be responsible for vaccinating teachers who work in the northern half of McHenry County, and Huntley High School will handle teachers in the southern half, Rowe said.

The Huntley High School clinics will result in about 3,000 teachers being vaccinated across the two days. The logistics behind this undertaking have been planned carefully, so the clinics will be able to vaccinate teachers at a rate of 200 people an hour, he said.

Woodstock School District 200 Superintendent Michael Moan said in an interview last week that the "vast majority" of its teachers have said they are ready to be vaccinated, adding he has spoken with many people who are eager to get it as soon as possible.

About 80% to 85% of District 158 staff have indicated they wish to receive it, Rowe said Monday.