Vermilion County Health Department Administrator Doug Toole says both county residents and his staff have expressed frustrations with the vaccination process, but he says the clinics continue to move ahead.
Toole tells VermilionCountyFirst.com that 970 people have received their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine at the department, mostly consisting of local educators. All of the vaccines have been first doses, and staff is just about to start on the second doses. Beginning on February 11th, 600 people a week will be vaccinated at the Fischer Theatre.
Several different factors are making the process difficult, but Toole says it is still moving along well. For one, county’s allocation of doses is spread out among different healthcare providers, and each person must receive the same type of vaccine within an adequate time frame. Also, with only about two dozen employees, the fact that the state’s scheduling software isn’t available yet takes up a lot of their time.
“When that system starts working as advertised, that is definitely something we’re interested in,” he says. “Having people just call to get appointments is inefficient and frustrating for the public and frustrating for us.”
Along with the health department, OSF, Carle and Aunt Martha’s Health Center are also vaccinating patients. Toole says many residents in northern Vermilion County have been vaccinated through Carle in Hoopeston. He says no county in the state has received the number of vaccines they have wanted, but so far that has not been a problem.
As for the new B-117 strain of the virus, which was first reported in Vermilion County this week, Toole says his staff will handle cases the same.
“We’ve not heard that the symptoms are any worse,” he explains. “We’ve not been told to handle those cases any differently. The concern is that it is a more contagious strain of an already contagious virus.”
The Illinois Department of Public Health says that 273 residents of Vermilion County have received both doses of the vaccine, with a total of 3,349 doses administered. Overall, 178,000 Illinoisans are considered fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
