DuPage leads suburban counties in vaccination rates
Almost 30% of suburban residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, but the percentage varies across the counties.
DuPage County has the highest percentage of fully vaccinated residents at 33.1%, according to the most recent figures from the Illinois Department of Public Health.
McHenry County is the lowest at 25.9%, according to IDPH figures.
In between are suburban Cook County at 31%, Lake County at 26.8%, Will County at 26.7% and Kane County at 26.2%.
Noticing a continued vaccination hesitancy among a large swath of the population, state public health officials have launched the Pandemic Health Navigator to help dispel vaccine myths, educate vulnerable residents and ultimately return Illinois to relative normalcy, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said. The $60 million program was launched at an event Monday in Aurora.
Health officials are trying to make it easier to get vaccinated as well. Cook County recently allowed walk-ins without appointments at all its mass vaccination sites. Pritzker said he expects that to happen in other counties soon.
"We're seeing more and more people become vaccine-confident," Pritzker said in Aurora. "We're at an interim period where demand and supply have roughly met each other."
DuPage County also leads the suburban counties in vaccinating people 65 and older, with 79% fully vaccinated. People are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after they have received the final dose of one of the three available vaccines.
The vaccination rate is 70% in McHenry and Kane counties, according to IDPH figures.
In Lake County, 69% of those 65 and older are fully vaccinated, while 68% of that age group is fully vaccinated in Will County. Suburban Cook County has the lowest rate of fully vaccinated residents who are 65 and older, at 66.3%.
At the other end of the age spectrum, some suburban school districts are starting to plan vaccination clinics for older students.
Indian Prairie Unit District 204 in Naperville and Aurora and Naperville Unit District 203 are planning a joint vaccination clinic for students 16 and older, and Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire plans a separate event. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is the only one approved for 16- and 17-year-olds.
Meanwhile, IDPH officials also reported Monday that 50,512 more doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered in Illinois.
So far, Illinois vaccine providers have administered 8,860,975 doses of vaccines across the state, according to Illinois Department of Public Health figures.
The Pandemic Health Navigator aims to increase vaccine access and to connect people to COVID-19 assistance programs. Information on how to connect with the program can be found at www.HelpGuideThrive.org.
IDPH officials also reported 10 more COVID-19 deaths and 2,137 new cases of COVID-19.
That brings the state's death toll from the virus to 21,836 with 1,323,170 Illinois residents who have been infected.
Hospitals statewide reported treating 2,083 COVID-19 patients, with 506 of those patients being treated in intensive care units. That's nearly a quarter of all COVID-19 patients being treated in an ICU.
The seven-day average number of COVID-19 patients is on the decline, dropping for the third straight day today to an average of 2,128 patients a day over the past week.