Local Public Health Officials Frustrated With Vaccine Rollout, GOP Frustrated with Ezike
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike speaks at a COVID-19 news conference this summer.
After Governor JB Pritzker announced this week he was expanding the state’s Phase 1B COVID-19 vaccinations to include people under 65 with major medical conditions, local public health officlals complained to a Senate committee there isn’t enough vaccine to meet current demand, much less from adding a new group.
In a virtual hearing with the Senate Health Committee Thursday, Stephenson County Public Health Administrator Craig Beintema said his county is only receiving 400 doses per week, and even those have been tough to rely on.
“Since the fourth week of December, vaccine has come in very small and varying amounts. This makes it difficult to plan a clinic,” he said. “Furthermore, the amount of vaccine was not verified until two days prior to shipment, and you were never assured how much you were going to get. That was just totally unacceptable.”
He says the state can’t expand phase 1B without a clear plan to educate people about limited supply of vaccine.
“More vaccine, obviously, can solve an issue. But I think that it would be better not to open up and add that new part to Phase 1B,” he said.
Beintema said the Governor’s office isn’t being honest with the scarcity of the vaccine.
“The low number of doses presents a serious issue.”
Meanwhile, Monroe County Public Health Department Administrator John Wagner says his southern Illinois county is receiving just 200 doses per week. Wagner says, at that rate, it would take 3 1/2 years to vaccinate the population of his county.
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike told the committee the state can’t control the supply chain.
“Our greatest challenge is that we don’t have enough doses to satisfy all of the people that need it, want it, and are eligible,” she said. “Of course, we are not in control of the supply chain.”
Wagner says since anthrax and other airborne attacks in the months following 9/11, local health departments have been preparing for mass vaccination site. He' says the state has change its plan too many times, using pharmacies and the National Guard to distribute the vaccine.
“For 20 years, every health department has plans to do this,” he said. “The state IDPH is the one who changed the game plan in the middle of a pandemic. It’s hurting the residents and hurting the citizens of this state.”
For her part, Ezike said she understands the frustration.
“It is very hard to continue to ask for patience for people who have been enduring this horrible pandemic for a year now,” Ezike said. “We have to remember we weren’t even confident that we would have vaccine at this point in the pandemic even six or seven months ago.”
Republicans on the committee grumbled privately and publicly about their access to Ezike, who, besides Governor JB Pritzker, has been the administration official most out-front on the COVID-19 pandemic.
The total of Ezike’s testimony and questioning Thursday was around 15 minutes.
In fact, committee chair Sen. Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield) cut off Republican senators at least four times as they tried to question Ezike or her proxy.
Sen. Jason Plummer (R-Edwardsille) called the limited access to Ezike insulting and “unacceptable.”
Her Deputy Director, Andrew Friend, tussled at times during the hearing with Republican Sen. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) and John Curran (R-Lemont).
The Illinois Department of Public Health did not return a message from The Illinoize Thursday asking why Ezike appeared before the committee so briefly. Morrison only called it a “hard stop” in Ezike’s schedule.
“How do they expect us to feel when the administration continues to disrespect us and treat us like the legislative branch doesn’t matter,” asked one Republican Senator Thursday night.
While Republicans wanted to press Ezike about the slow rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, she gave very few specifics other than to discuss low inventory.
And she asked the public for patience.
“It will be months for some people who aren’t eligible by the time they actually get the vaccine,” Ezike said. “I know that’s a very difficult message to [hear], but, unfortunately, until we have much more vaccine, as the production is ramped up, that is the situation we find ourselves in at this point. “