‘When’s my turn?’: DeKalb County health officials answer No. 1 call coming to dept.

DeKALB – More than 16,000 people have registered so far with the DeKalb County Health Department for the COVID-19 vaccine, and local health officials as a result are fronting an onslaught of questions to which they may not yet have answers.

Lisa Gonzalez, public health administrator for the DeKalb County Health Department, said the number one question the health department has been getting is, “When will I receive my COVID-19 vaccine?”

Gonzalez said the Phase 1B vaccine category, which the county started moving into last week is very large in comparison to other previous vaccination groups. She said that makes it more complicated to get through, especially with people starting to get impatient and with different Illinois counties being in different vaccination stages or having more access to more resources based on population.

“Although people were really understanding as it relates to getting the healthcare workers vaccinated first, we’re seeing a lot more frustration in the community as it relates to this frontline essential worker category and then those residents over the age of 65,” Gonzalez said.

Phase 1B includes: first responders, daycare workers, corrections officers and inmates, food and agriculture workers, postal service workers, manufacturing workers, grocery store workers, public transit workers, educators and support staff, shelters and adult day care workers, and those aged 65 and older. Priority groups are designated by health departments in accordance with federal government protocols.

Since the vaccine first arrived in DeKalb County Dec. 29, health officials have said it could take months to get through the first few categories in Phase 1.

Like many health departments across the country, the DeKalb County Health Department has set up an online registration portal at www.health.dekalbcounty.org/about/coronavirus/covid-19-vaccination/ to keep residents notified of when it’s their turn to receive the vaccine. Signing up doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed a vaccine right away, but allows the health department to keep a direct line of communication with residents to they can be contacted with location details and appointment information when it’s their turn in line.

Gonzalez said she wanted to remind the public there’s no need to call or email to make sure they’re on the list after they signed up for the notifications, and urged residents to remain plugged into local media channels and to sign up for the health department’s newsletter to be up-to-date on vaccine news.

Vaccine deliveries inconsistent

Another speedbump that’s slowing vaccine distribution across the country? Deliveries, irregular week by week in both size and date.

Distribution county by county and state by state already varies, and local health officials aren’t often told until the last minute how many vaccine doses they should expect weekly.

Gonzalez said that, at this point, the county’s weekly vaccine allotment has been around 1,200. She said the health department schedules clinics for each week and immediately depletes that weekly allotment.

“So as soon as we’re getting vaccines, we are pushing that vaccine out,” Gonzalez said.

While vaccine delivery from the state has had quick turnaround of late, Gonzalez said, local health departments aren’t necessarily given much advance notice or regularity for weekly allotment deliveries.

“That has continued to be somewhat inconsistent and unpredictable,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said the county is several weeks into administering the first dose of the vaccine for people who fall in the Phase 1A group (mainly health care workers and adults living in long-term care facilities), though vaccinations for that group haven’t wrapped up yet.

“Not as many as there were before,” Gonzalez said. “So we’re kind of catching the end of that piece but we’re moving into Phase 1B at the same time.”

However, Gonzalez said, the health department will begin administering dose two for health care workers starting this week. Both the Moderna and the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine require about three weeks in-between doses.

Cindy Graves, the health department’s nurse practitioner, said she also wanted to point out that 50 counties in the state started receiving vaccine a couple weeks before DeKalb County. She said that was all based on higher COVID-19 death rates in certain counties.

“Fortunately, we’re not one of those 50 counties,” Graves said. “But it did basically put us behind two weeks.”

Graves said that, given that, she thinks that might make a difference in where people may fall in the line to get vaccinated.

Who’s registered so far

According to DeKalb County Health Department data presented during the Tuesday county board of health meeting, more than 16,000 people have signed up for COVID-19 vaccine notifications through the health department to date.

There were 2,333 individuals in Phase 1A that signed up for the notifications as of Tuesday. Frontline essential workers in the Phase 1B group accounted for 1,332 individuals signed up.

As of Tuesday, Gonzalez said the biggest groups of individuals that have signed up for vaccine notifications so far are people 75 years old and older – 3,004 individuals – and people ages 65 to 74 years old at 4,612 individuals. They both fall within the Phase 1B group, with 75 years old and older individuals slated to go before the 65 to 74 year old crowd.

There were 1,545 individuals ages 16 to 59 years old with high risk medical conditions – which includes chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer, heart conditions, obesity and pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – who signed up for DeKalb County COVID-19 vaccine notifications. Other essential workers included 1,858 individuals.

Both fall under the Phase 1C group, which is not yet clearly defined, at least publicly, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health, which lists Phase 1C as “possibly” including those aged 16 to 64 with high-risk medical conditions or other essential workers such as those in the transportation, food service, housing, finance, Information Technology, energy, media, legal, public safety, water and wastewater and public health industries.

Individuals who didn’t fall under any of the previous groups are part of Phase 2 vaccinations, which has also not yet been defined by public health officials, but could include the general public aged 16 and older or more essential workers. There were 1,646 individuals within that group that signed up for DeKalb County vaccine notifications.

Gonzalez said health officials are really focusing on getting law enforcement officials and the education sector next in line as the health department is transitioning to vaccination Phase 1B for other frontline essential workers. She said vaccine opportunities started to open up for those 75 years old and older this week and local health officials hope to have more vaccination slots for people 65 years old and older open up over the next few weeks.

Health department not only place to get vaccine

Another added cog in the vaccine machine: there are other places beyond the health department who will soon begin allowing patients to receive a vaccine in accordance with the phased approach, and those in the current and ongoing Phase 1A and Phase 1B should be on the lookout.

Details for how to register and when specifically local locations will begin offering vaccine are still unclear, however.

Northwestern Medicine will soon begin holding private patient clinic available by appointment-only for patients registered with the system, though nothing is yet announced, health officials said. Additionally, a number of pharmacies locally and across the state could soon begin offering vaccine to those in Phase 1B or 1A.

Details on Northwestern Medicine’s vaccine clinics are not yet known, but will be shared when the time comes.

According to a news release this week from Hy-Vee, the Hy-Vee pharmacy in Sycamore, 2700 DeKalb Avenue, began accepting registrations this week for appointment-based vaccines only. Those eligible for Phase 1A and 1B can go to https://www.hy-vee.com/my-pharmacy/covid-vaccine-consent to schedule an appointment.

The news release states Hy-Vee has 16 locations in Bloomington, Canton, Galesburg, Hamilton, Milan, Moline, Macomb, Peoria, Peru, Rock Island, Silvis, Springfield, and Sycamore which the company estimates will be able to provide up to 200 vaccinations each day.

Hy-Vee pharmacies will be available for appointment-only vaccines (call ahead first to schedule one if you qualify) Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday through Sunday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at most locations, the release states.

The State of Illinois is also partnering with 92 Walgreens and Jewel-Osco pharmacies across the state, and residents can go to www.coronavirus.illinois.gov to find links to schedule an appointment.

Gonzalez said the county health department is only administrating the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, which requires a second dose given 28 days after first dose. She said the health department so far has hosted about a dozen vaccine clinics with the help of the Northern Illinois University School of Nursing.

“People can feel free to register on those sites as well based on the pharmacy providers that you’re hearing of,” Gonzalez said. “It’s still a little unclear about how much vaccine will be allocated to the pharmacies at this time, but they are starting to come online and they are starting to get vaccines that they’re able to schedule appointments for. Individuals should not show up at those pharmacies expecting to get a vaccine. Everything is still by appointment only.”

If you’re able to get the vaccine wherever you’re registered, whomever offers it first at a legitimate facility, residents are encouraged to do so.

Most of all, Gonzalez said, “it is important for people to remain patient.”