Pritzker expands vaccine eligibility to include more medically vulnerable people under the age of 65

Persons under the age of 65 who are at high risk of severe cases of COVID-19 are eligible for vaccination from February 25th.

According to a news release from the Governor’s Office, some eligible individuals have cancer, kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other lung diseases, diabetes, heart disease, weakened immunity after solid organ transplantation, obesity, pregnancy. And people with sickle cell disease.

Governor JB Pritzker said his decision to include newly eligible residents follows the guidelines of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Defenders of the sick have praised the change as potentially life-saving, but many people over the age of 65 have been short of vaccination quotas after weeks of trials. Others criticized it because it was coveted.

Pritzker said the “surge” supply of vaccines to Illinois would allow more people to get vaccine reservations in Phase 1B of the state, a newly added group of mandatory workers aged 65 and over. He said it would be useful soon.

“As soon as we get enough vaccines, we don’t have to waste time protecting them,” Pritzker said during a tour of a large vaccination site in Adams County on Wednesday. ..

State health officials announced on Wednesday that another 62,923 doses of the vaccine had brought it to the arms of Illinois residents and workers. This brings the total number of vaccinations to 1,480,079 since the deployment began in mid-December.

According to Illinois Public Health Service records, this includes 327,413 fully vaccinated Illinois residents. This is about 2.6% of the state’s population. Both the Pfizer and Modana vaccines should be given every two weeks.

Although the vaccine will ship later than expected, federal officials have promised a dose 5% higher than originally planned by Illinois, according to Pritzker. An additional 18,200 doses were shipped to Illinois on Tuesday.

Pritzker said President Joe Biden’s administration has enacted the Defense Production Act to increase the supply of already approved vaccines. The Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine will soon receive an emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration, which may increase vaccine supply to the state.

“Illinois is following the CDC’s guidance to expand its qualified population as supply allows and to make it widely available to everyone in need of the vaccine,” Pritzker said.

Hawthorn Woods Republican Dan McConchie, a minority leader in the Illinois Senate, urged Pritzker to include medically vulnerable people.

“I’m happy to hear that we are the most ill and have the highest risk of death from COVID-19, regardless of age,” McConchi said. “The state should have provided some way from the beginning to those who have claimed that doctors depend on vaccination for the life and health of their patients, but now they most need it at the end of a very long tunnel. There is light for people. “

Pritzker said Illinois has the fifth highest number of vaccinations in any state. It is the sixth most populous.

“We are, so to speak, above the weight class,” he said. “But no doubt we still have a long way to go.”

COVID-19 said it had killed 53 residents of Illinois and infected an additional 2,825 people in the state, health officials reported a day’s tally.

Since the outbreak began, 19,739 Illinois have died and 1,724,325 have been infected.

According to IDPH records, the state’s case positive rate is 3.3% based on a 7-day average, the lowest since late July. The case positive rate allows healthcare professionals to track the level of infection.

A hospital in Illinois also reported that 2,082 patients were being treated for the virus. Of the hospitalized patients, 232 are in the intensive care unit.

Many who are hospitalized have an underlying condition that puts them at greater risk.