Group blasts vaccine effort
Community coalition: Will County not doing enough for minorities
A coalition representing a dozen community-based organizations is calling for more equitable distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine by the Will County Health Department.
In a memo sent to Will County Board leaders and the board of health, the coalition says the health department has fallen short in getting information about the vaccine — and the vaccine itself — to minority communities, particularly Latino and Black communities.
“The Will County Health Department failed in very essential equity practices since the beginning of the pandemic,” the memo stated. “It is time for the Will Health Department to step up and invest in equity. Our communities deserve better.”
The coalition requested the county allocate $1.7 million to address translation services, hire a health equity officer for the health department, fund health clinics to focus vaccine distribution in minority communities and provide transportation to and from vaccine clinics for lowincome individuals.
Jose Vera, executive director of the Southwest Suburban Immigrant Project, said Thursday the coalition invited the health department to a recent meeting to discuss their concerns. Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant and other leaders from the Will County Board attended, but health department officials did not, Vera said.
A health department spokesman declined to comment Thursday about the memo.
As of Thursday, the health department has administered 104,147 doses of vaccine and has 27,938 individuals fully vaccinated. Individuals are considered fully vaccinated after receiving two doses of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines.
Data from the Illinois Department of Public Health show that of the vaccine doses administered in Will County, 13,286 doses, or 10.3%, went to Latinos and 8,628 doses, or 6.72%, went to members of the Black community. In July 2019, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the county’s population at 690,743 residents with Latinos making up 18.2% and Blacks 12.2%.
In recent weeks, the health department, which receives county funding but is governed by its own board, has come under fire for its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There is a lack of clarity and information coming from the Will County Health Department and a lack of leadership at the very top,” Vera said. “We’re having to fill in a lot more gaps than we should because the Will County Health Department is failing.”
Vera expressed specific concerns over translation services, saying that the department’s efforts to provide information about the vaccine or the virus in other languages has been lacking.
In recent weeks, the county board approved $1.6 million in funding for a call center, which will include bilingual workers, to handle the influx of calls to the health department and to hire a communications firm to spear
head a public awareness campaign about vaccination efforts. The county also approved roughly $3 million in CARES Act funding for the health department to hire additional workers, facilitate rental agreements for mass vaccination clinics and purchase need equipment.
Vera said he and the other member organizations of the coalition will continue to work with county officials to address concerns of their member communities.
A joint meeting of the county board’s public health and safety committee and its diversity and inclusion committee is scheduled Tuesday to address concerns. Sue Olenek, executive director of the health department, is expected to present the department’s vaccination plans.
County board members also are penning a letter to state and federal leaders inquiring about vaccine supply. Health officials have said they do have vaccination plans in place, but point to the nationwide vaccine shortage as the key holdup.
Other organizations that signed on to the memo this week are Community Lifeline Ministries, Fairmont Community Partnership Group, Forest Park Community Center, Harvey Brooks Foundation, Illinois Coalition of Immigrant & Refugee Rights, Latino Policy Forum, Shriver Center on Poverty Law, Spanish Community Center, Warehouse Workers for Justice, Warren Sharpe Community Center and the Will-Grundy Medical Clinic.