State reaches record 95,000 vaccine doses administered in one day

SPRINGFIELD — The statewide seven-day rolling COVID-19 positivity rate dropped Friday to a low not seen since the summer as the state reached a record 95,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered the day prior.

The positivity rate was 3.1% Friday, a low last recorded July 21. The 95,375 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered Thursday topped the previous record set Feb. 4 by more than 20,000.

A total of 1.6 million vaccines have been administered in the state, including 231,814 for long-term facilities. The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 10% of people in Illinois have received their first dose of vaccine as of Friday. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 59,009 doses.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and IDPH announced an expanded partnership with Federally Qualified Health Care Centers Friday as they toured Aunt Martha’s Chicago

Heights Community Health Center.

“Starting in March — when we expect increased vaccine supply — Illinois plans to provide a specific increased set aside vaccine allocation for our federally qualified health centers as part of our continuing effort to reach those who may not have a primary care provider or who are most challenged when it comes to health care access,” Pritzker said.

This partnership is building on a federal program developed to administer vaccines to underserved populations, including homeless people, migrant workers, public housing residents and those with limited English proficiency.

Prior to this program, local health departments would supply a share of their Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine doses from the state’s allocation to federally qualified centers within their jurisdiction.

Now, the federal government will distribute a portion of vaccine directly to the state’s qualified centers that will be separate from those allocated to the state.

“This is on top of what Illinois gets,” IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said. “It’s going to be rolled out slowly. ”

A select number of recently added Walgreens vaccination sites will also be receiving vaccine supply directly from the federal government in a newly launched program by President Joe Biden’s Administration.

Illinois has received a total of more than 2.3 million doses of the vaccine. Approximately 1.9 million doses have been delivered to providers in the state in addition to 445,200 doses that have been allocated for the Pharmacy Partnership program for long-term care facilities.

Pritzker also said the state has seen a 30% increase in vaccine supply from the federal government over the last few weeks. Providers across the state, outside of separate shipments to Chicago, can expect about 365,000 doses from the federal weekly shipment in the coming week, he said.

Pritzker anticipates supply to increase in weeks to come as the Biden administration secured an additional 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine and the Johnson & Johnson oneshot COVID-19 vaccine awaits approval for emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The additional 200 million doses are enough to vaccinate every American adult, but according to the New York Times, that goal may not be met by the end of the summer, as previously reported, due to logistical concerns.

IDPH reported 2,598 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 Friday of 103,009 test results, with an additional 32 deaths.

As of Thursday night, 1,910 COVID-19 patients were reported to be in the hospital. Of those, 437 patients were in intensive care unit beds and 211 were on ventilators.

The state reported a total of 1.15 million cases of COVID-19 from 17 million total test results, and 19,873 total deaths since the pandemic started.