Vaccine providers will get fewer first doses, more of second

Illinois health departments will begin to receive a larger amount of COVID-19 vaccine second doses starting Monday in order to serve the growing number of people who need their second shot.

But in return, the state will receive fewer first doses due to the limitation of federal shipments, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

The public health department announced in a statement Saturday afternoon how it will balance the state’s federal dose shipments. The department wrote that it anticipates that “these allocations will hold steady for the next several weeks” until March, when shipments of the first dose will increase again.

The public health department is working with local health departments and other providers to prepare for the shift, the department said. This included webinars, individual planning calls and a rapid electronic notification to all vaccine providers.

Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines need a second dose to be up to 95% effective, the department said. For the Pfizer vaccine, second doses have to be administered three weeks after the first doses; a fourweek wait is needed for those who receive the Moderna shot.

The number of first doses that have been administered has increased “over the past several weeks,” so the need for more second doses is also increasing, the department said.

“Therefore, the amount of vaccine available to be administered as a first dose must decrease,” the statement said. “Over the next several weeks, as the number of first doses administered decreases to account for the limited amount of vaccine, we will begin to see a balancing of vaccine available for both doses.”

Illinois has had challenges and faced criticisms for its vaccine rollout, but its number of doses statewide is increasing. Statewide, vaccination response has differed widely among counties.

The Chicago area has among the lower vaccination rates in the state. The city and suburban Cook and DuPage counties reported that less than 10% of their populations had received their first dose. Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties each had vaccinated 8% or less.

In suburban Cook County, more than 233,000 people have been vaccinated with first doses, but demand far outpaces supply. In a joint statement, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said, “Our goal is to get as many people vaccinated as quickly and efficiently as possible. That said, our greatest challenge in doing so is the very limited supply of vaccine.”