* From comments today…

To the question the other day about if they should threaten to send vaccines to Chicago as a ploy to get people vaccinated that are hesitating to get one. I decided to conduct a little experiment on a Facebook friend that is antivax and always ranting about Chicago. I sent him a message that I heard this might happen and this morning on facebook he posted that he got his first dose because he didn’t want someone else to get it. So the tactic worked and we got one more person in region 2 with their first dose. A victory!

* Well, it’s kinda/sorta happening. Here’s Jordan Abudayyeh…

The federal government allocates vaccine doses to states based on population. The City of Chicago is treated as its own entity separate from the state and is also allocated doses based on its population. As the state entered phases 1A, 1B, 1B+ of the vaccine roll out doses were distributed to local health departments based on population. In addition, the state allocated doses to mass vaccine sites throughout the state, 12 of which are in suburban Cook County and the collar counties. Doses were also allocated to FQHCs, safety net hospitals and rural teams. On top of these various allocations the federal government is also supplying vaccine directly to pharmacy partners that are based in all regions of the state.

Over the past several weeks as demand has started to shift in various regions of the state, local health departments have begun requesting fewer doses or skipped ordering their allocation altogether. When that occurs, IDPH reassigns those doses mass vaccine sites in areas where demand is higher, like Cook and the collar counties. Beginning this week, the local health department first dose allocations distributed to local health departments will be based on demand identified by the local health department instead of population. This shift in policy aims to address remaining inventory some local health departments have, while also directing doses to areas where demand exceeds current allocations. You will see in the attached spreadsheet that if you look at the percent of population with first doses, DuPage County is actually number one, Cook County is number five, indicating that recent redirection of doses is making an impact in those communities with higher demand.

On Tuesday, IDPH announced it is transferring 100,000 doses of vaccine to City of Chicago (50,000 first and 50,000 second doses).

All redirected doses (doses the local health department didn’t order) either get put back in the overall state pot and are distributed the next week (benefitting the larger counties) or, in the last two weeks for example, we sent Moderna vaccine not ordered by the local health departments to Cook County. Last week, that was 11,000 doses, and the previous week it was 4,800.

Just looking at the Moderna vaccine allocation, the following are the number of doses from the listed counties that redirected doses to the state for reallocation, by week.

• 3/15 – 900 returned
o (Egyptian, Logan, Pike, Stickney)

• 3/22 – 2200 returned
o (Brown, East Side, Egyptian, Hamilton, Pike Scott, Wayne)

• 3/29 – 3400 returned
o (Bureau, Cass, East Side, Egyptian, Fulton, Hamilton, Henderson, Jefferson, Logan, Pike, Putnam, Richland, Scott, Shelby, Vermilion, Wayne)

• 4/5 – 7000 returned
o (Brown, Bureau, Clay, Cumberland, East Side, Egyptian, Ford, Fulton, Greene, Hamilton, Henderson, Jefferson, Marion, Marshall, McHenry, Mercer, Montgomery, Morgan, Pike, Putnam, Randolph, Scott, Shelby, Skokie, Southern 7, Stickney, Wayne)

• 4/12 – 22,500 returned
o (Brown, Cass, Clay, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, DuPage, East Side, Edwards, Egyptian, Fulton, Greene, Hamilton, Hancock, Henderson, Jackson, Jefferson, Logan, Macon, Madison, Marion, Mason, McDonough, Mercer, Morgan, Moultrie, Perry, Pike, Randolph, Richland, Schuyler, Scott, Shelby, Vermilion, Wabash, Wayne

* Related…

* Unused Vaccines Are Piling Up Across U.S. as Some Regions Resist

*** UPDATE *** Clarification from the governor’s office…

DuPage County did not reject their dose allocation like other counties. The county requested they get their doses next week because they are second doses and will be due next week. We apologize for the misunderstanding. DuPage County has been administering doses at a quick pace and their mass vaccination site is incredibly efficient.