Officials with the Oak Park health department are making plans for the time when COVID-19 vaccinations can be expanded, which will likely allow residents who are over age 65 to receive the vaccine.
Currently, the village is in phase 1A of vaccinations, which includes essential hospital workers and first responders. Once critical healthcare workers have been vaccinated, the village can move to phase 1B, though supply will determine the speed of that implementation, officials said.
“Under the state multi-phased vaccination program, healthcare workers are considered top priority because they are at an increased risk of exposure to the highly-contagious virus and are essential to caring for those who contract the illness,” interim public health director Joseph Terry said. “As we prepare to expand our efforts to vaccinate the broader community, the timing will depend first on vaccinating those eligible in the initial phase, but ultimately on the availability of vaccine.”
Those eligible to receive the vaccine in phase 1B include essential workers like grocery store employees and teachers.
In early January, the village began hosting drive-through clinics to vaccinate healthcare workers who live in Oak Park but did not have access to the vaccine through an employer. Oak Park officials hope to not only expand the village’s drive-through clinics, but also work with local pharmacies and medical care providers to increase the number of vaccinations that can occur as weekly vaccine supplies allow.
“The number of vaccinations that will be required in Oak Park is substantial,” Terry said. “As the pool of those eligible to be vaccinated grows, people will have to be patient as we methodically work through the state phases and the intricate guidelines within them.”
Oak Park officials are using an online platform created by the state to schedule vaccine-eligible local healthcare workers for upcoming vaccination clinics. Officials say the same online platform will be used to schedule residents as eligibility guidelines expand and more vaccine becomes available. The scheduling system, however, is not a waiting list, officials said.
Terry said the key piece of how quickly the vaccination program moves ahead continues to be the availability of the vaccine.
“We anticipate demand will far exceed the supply, at least in the coming weeks,” Terry said.
Officials say the Oak Park health department learns each week how much vaccine will be allocated to the village by the state.
The Oak Park health department received its first shipment of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 19. The supply was immediately distributed to West Suburban Medical Center and Rush Oak Park Hospital. Vaccinations of hospital employees began the following morning.
To date, more than 3,500 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been allocated to hospitals and healthcare organizations by the Oak Park health department.
More information about the village’s COVID-19 vaccination program is available online through the Oak Park public health department’s website.
sschering@pioneerlocal.com
Twitter: @steveschering
