Illinois recorded a record spike in the number of daily COVID-19 vaccines administered on Tuesday.
The Illinois Department of Public Health reported that 53,628 doses were given out on Tuesday, It was more than 25,000 doses higher than were administered on Monday and almost 20,000 more than were administered the previous seven days on average.
Meanwhile, the state’s rolling positivity rate hit 4.5 percent as of Wednesday, decreasing for the 19th consecutive day to hit its lowest number since October 13th. Region 6’s rate decreased to 5.1 percent and Vermilion County’s was at 7.9 percent, still higher than Monday’s low of 7.8 percent.
The Vermilion County Health Department reported 99 new cases on Wednesday evening and 116 people released from isolation, which brings Vermilion County to a total of 7,349 positive cases.
Illinois ranks 44th at 4.7 percent of people having received the first dose of the vaccine. The data also shows that Illinois has only used 48 percent of the doses of the vaccine it has received. A total of nearly 1.8 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been delivered to the state. Of this total, 537,000 doses have been allocated for long-term care facilities through a partnership with CVS and Walgreens.
County Health Department Administrator Doug Toole says educators will be receiving their vaccines tomorrow at the health department, and the state’s drive-through testing team will be in the parking lot from 8 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.
(Portions of this story come from Capitol News Illinois.)
