City says vaccine doses being distributed more equitably
Mayor: About 50% of 1st vaccine shots went to Black and Latino residents this week
Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Friday touted “major improvements” in getting the COVID-19 vaccine into the arms of those in the city’s most vulnerable communities.
The mayor said about 50% of first doses have been given to Black and Latino residents in the most recent week — and the city plans to continue giving out thousands of shots to close the gap even further in the coming weeks.
Early on, when the focus was on health care workers and staff and residents at long-term care facilities, about 18% of vaccinations were going to Blacks or Latinos, according to the mayor’s office.
But even as the effort opened up to essential workers and those over 65 in late January, the disparity continued. So last weekend, the city opened a mass vaccination site in Belmont Cragin, one of 15 communities the city determined was hardest hit during the pandemic, giving out 2,000 shots. The shots were given to anyone over 18, as long as they lived in the vulnerable community.
“As soon as we saw these numbers, we doubled down even harder on our efforts to drive these lifesaving vaccines into communities that need them the most,” Lightfoot said at a news conference Friday in Gage Park, where more than 250 residents were given shots and she was given her second dose of the vaccine.
The Gage Park site, which opened Tuesday at 6057 S. Western Ave., will give out 4,000 doses over the next two months. It is being run in conjunction with Esperanza Health Centers.
Another 2,000 shots are scheduled to be given in Belmont Cragin again this weekend.
With the new outreach, the
breakdown of those who have received a first dose in Chicago since December is 40.8% white; 19.1% Black; 18.1% Latino; 6.7% Asian; and 3.6% other, the city said. About 11.8% of shots went to people whose race or ethnicity is unknown.
Statewide, more than 2 million Illinois residents have been vaccinated, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office said Friday.
The state passed that milestone Thursday when 83,673 shots went into arms, the second highest oneday vaccination total yet, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
“Every shot gets us closer to the other side of this pandemic,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker tweeted, touting CDC data that shows Illinois ranks fifth behind California, Texas, Florida and New York in total shots administered.
Weather this week led to a slowdown in shots, but Illinois is slated to receive another 500,000 doses next week.
“We’ve seen increasing vaccine supply — nearly 30% more on a weekly basis to states — since President Biden took over,” Pritzker said.
City positivity rate lowest ever
Also Friday, city officials said the COVID-19 case positivity rate — 3.5% — is at its lowest since the virus’ arrival in the city.
“Over the summer, we’d gotten down under 4%, but never this low,” said Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health.
Arwady also said the city is now averaging about 320 new cases a day, compared with more than 3,000 at the “peak” of the pandemic a few months ago.
Statewide, there was another 63 deaths attributed to the virus. Twenty-four of the latest victims were from the Chicago area, including two men in their 30s from Cook and Kane counties.