Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Chicago and its community providers currently have 120,779 vaccine doses on-hand

Thursday, Feb 4, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller

* I told you on Monday (and updated since then) about how many vaccine doses that various public health departments had on-hand as of Friday. The lone exception was the City of Chicago, which wasn’t reporting its vaccine stockpile data to the state.

After much back-and-forth and claims that they didn’t have the number, I was finally able to get what Andrew Buchanan at the Chicago Department of Public Health says are its current numbers as of yesterday…

No other information was provided. But, if you click here and do a little math, you’ll see that Chicago’s average daily doses administered is 5,125 over the past 7 days. So, at this rate, it’ll take the city a little over 23 days to use up that stockpile.

…Adding… A different page within the city’s public health site shows an average dosage delivered at 10,338 per day when including those vaccinated who do not live in Chicago. It’s not clear if all those doses came from the city’s supply, but give ‘em the benefit of the doubt.

To put that number further into context, the Chicago Teachers Union has about 20,000 members and the union is clamoring for vaccinations for its membership before returning to work. The city could comply with that demand and still have 20 days’ supply on-hand at the current vaccination rate (or about 10 days when adding non-residents to the equation).

Just sayin…

…Adding… Andrew Buchanan at the Chicago Department of Public Health…

(T)hese numbers reflect vaccine that is being put into arms today and over the coming week, it’s been promised to people and providers who have appointments to fill. We receive our vaccine allotments on a weekly basis (typically arriving Monday-Wednesday) but they’re allocated already for appointments over the following week. For example, we received 10,725 doses of Pfizer that were just delivered to CDPH – that’s part of the 19,572 I reported to you – but all of our vaccine supply is already scheduled for appointments over the next week.

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*** UPDATED x1 *** In which I mostly agree with Mark Brown’s take

Thursday, Feb 4, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Mark Brown…

There’s going to be a lot of complaining about Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s decision Wednesday to make state legislators eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine now instead of requiring them to wait until the next phase later this year, but I have no objection.

Legislators have an important job that’s best accomplished by meeting in person, and this should allow them to safely do that, eventually.

I just have one little caveat:

If they want to actually get vaccinated, legislators should be required to go through the same maddening process as the rest of us who are eligible but are still looking for an appointment. […]

If legislators want to get the vaccine, they should jump through the same hoops as the average person in the Phase 1B grouping who became eligible in Illinois last week — which includes frontline essential workers and anyone age 65 and older.

There are those out there who are claiming that legislators are being allowed to jump to the front of the line. Not true. They’re being moved to 1B and have to fend for themselves like everyone else. Also, unlike the governor, Mayor Lightfoot appears to have actually moved herself and city council members to the very front of the line for shots and got exactly zero heat for that. Maybe equal treatment from the news/opinion media is in order here as well.

But I do figure that some or even most legislators will try to use their connections, like everyone else who has connections. That doesn’t make it right. And I also figure that some of the folks who screamed the loudest yesterday will find a way to discreetly get their shots.

* Also too, it would help if legislators who complained the loudest would step up now. For instance…

If it’s essential for us to gather with 200 people almost every week, then we are essential enough to get a vaccine. We had an outbreak at session this week. Do we need to pass de-coupling, cannabis, etc bills or no? Vaccinate legislators and staff so we can work. @GovPritzker

— Rep. Daniel Didech (@RepDidech) January 15, 2021

Emails show Rep. Stephanie Kifowit (D-Oswego) was one of the state lawmakers lobbying @GovPritzker to move politicians up in vaccine line.

“It is beginning to feel like the Governor is purposely working against the legislature returning to do the work of the people,” she wrote. pic.twitter.com/UGGGfdSDH9

— Mark Maxwell (@MarkMaxwellTV) February 4, 2021

So far, neither legislator has posted follow-up tweets about the governor’s policy shift in their favor, although Rep. Didech did speak to the Tribune…

“This has been framed as politicians jumping to the front of the line, but it’s really not about that,” Didech said in a phone interview. “It’s us being responsive to our constituents who want us to get back to work and doing it in a safe way that we’re not causing superspreader events.”

*** UPDATE *** I’m told that in response to requests from legislators, the Pritzker administration will set up a central location in Springfield for state legislators to receive the vaccine in the next few weeks.

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No, nearly half the population of Cook County did not try to book a vaccine appointment Monday morning

Thursday, Feb 4, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Drudge…

* That headline links to this WBBM Newsradio headline…

Nearly 1.9 million seek vaccine appointments at Cook County site in first hour of website launch

* And that story links to this Daily Herald story…

As proof, “our website this morning saw nearly 1.9 million hits in the first hour,” Cook County Department of Public Health spokeswoman Deborah Song said. She was describing the onslaught of people trying to hook up with vaccinations at a second Cook County mass inoculation site opening Wednesday at Triton College in River Grove.

“We booked more than 3,400 appointments in the first 35 minutes,” Song said. “At its peak, the website experienced 65,810 hits in a single minute, which can slow down some of the functionality.”

* I reached out to Donald Bolger at the Cook County Department of Public Health, who said these were not unique site visits and the site stopped booking appointments after the first 3,400.

A “hit” is defined as “a request to a web server for a file.” Depending on the page, there can be numerous hits per page-view, and, take it from me, people can generate a ton of page-views by constantly refreshing their browsers.

We went through all this “hit” vs. “visits” vs. “unique visits” with reporters and others decades ago when the Web was still relatively young and people were unclear on the concept. There’s no excuse for that now.

This is not to say there isn’t intense interest out there, but the headlines are no less goofy and misleading.

…Adding… Phil Kadner described how this happened…

“We are pleased to announce that Cook County Health has released additional availability of vaccine appointments to Phase 1A and 1B residents of Cook County…To find an appointment, please click” — and an internet link was provided [Sunday evening].

I jumped for joy. Shouted to my wife that we were in. And clicked on the link.

Sorry, Charlie, there are no openings. Just toying with you, buddy.

The next day, in the morning, I received another text message:

“The additional availability of vaccine appointments at Cook County Health sites has been fully booked. More will be released as vaccine is received. Please be patient.”

Phil went on to write that he’d seen Gov. Pritzker vaccinated, which is false. Maybe he was thinking of Mayor Lightfoot.

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*** UPDATED x1 *** Tony Leone

Thursday, Feb 4, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Tony was probably best known these days for owning the Pasfield House, but he has a long local history…

Tony Leone, who served as clerk of the Illinois House of Representatives and ran the Pasfield House bed-and-breakfast near the Illinois Capitol Building, died Wednesday in Springfield.

He was 69. His cause of death was not clear.

Leone served as assistant clerk and clerk of the House from 1979 to 1992.

Leone was a longtime executive director of the Sangamon County Republican Foundation. He was also assistant treasurer of the state GOP.

My condolences to his many friends and to his family. I was able to confirm yesterday that arrangements are being handled by Boardman-Smith Funeral Home.

*** UPDATE *** Rosemarie Long also passed away, and the ILGOP has sent out a press release…

“When I think about someone who exemplifies the perfect union of a kind heart, genuine character, and commitment to a cause - I think of Rosemarie Long. Few people have made a greater impact on their community than she has. Sangamon County, Central Illinois, and the statewide Republican Party have lost a giant today. But more importantly, her family, countless friends, and loved ones have lost a beautiful soul. We hold them up in our thoughts and prayers at this time.” - Tim Schneider