Nearly A Third Of Illinois Residents Have Been Fully Vaccinated, But Number Of Shots Given Out Dropping Sharply
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The number of people getting vaccinated against COVID-19 each day in Illinois has dropped sharply over the past few weeks, even as nearly a third of the state's population has now been fully vaccinated.
The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 16,920 doses were administered on Sunday, the lowest daily total reported since Feb. 20. However, state officials said several pharmacies have not yet reported the number of doses given out over the weekend, so the figures reported on Monday are artificially low, and missing data will be reflected in numbers IDPH reports later this week.
Even so, over the past week, Illinois is averaging only 78,440 vaccinations per day, down 26% from one week ago, and down 41% from the peak average of 132,979 doses per day three weeks ago.
A total of 4,119,343 people in Illinois have been fully vaccinated as of Sunday night, accounting for 32.33% of the population.
Last week, Gov. JB Pritzker said demand for vaccines has been dropping across the country.
"It's a national trend," he said Friday morning at an event in the Metro East area near St. Louis. "There are just fewer people that are seeking it out."
The governor said that doesn't mean there aren't people who still want to get vaccinated, but would like the process to be more convenient, either because they don't have the transportation they need to get to a vaccine clinic, or are otherwise prevented from getting a shot.
"We're doing everything that we can to reach out to all of those folks, "Pritzker said. "We have mobile operations teams that are all over the state going into communities that we've had difficulty getting people vaccinated in, or where people have had difficulty. We have people knocking on doors, or at least responding to people who've said, 'Hey, I can't leave my home. I'm homebound, and I need someone to give me a vaccine at my home,' and so we've got people going door to door."
Meantime, IDPH on Monday reported 2,049 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, as well as 28 more deaths. Since the start of the pandemic, Illinois has reported a total of 1,341,777 cases, including 22,047 deaths.
Illinois is averaging 2,658 new cases per day over the past week, down 2 percent from one week ago, and down 15 percent from two weeks ago.
The statewide seven-day average case positivity rate stands at 3.4%, tied for the lowest it's been since March 31.
As of Sunday night, a total of 1,963 coronavirus patients were hospitalized in Illinois, including 479 in the ICU and 249 on ventilators. Hospitalizations appear to have plateaued in Illinois over the past couple weeks. Illinois is averaging 2,050 hospitalizations per day over the past week, down 4 percent from one week ago, and down 2 percent from two weeks ago.
