Pritzker: Vaccine "Supply Will Soon Exceed Demand"
Governor JB Pritzker said Monday the supply of COVID-19 vaccine will soon outpace demand, but that hesitancy over the inoculation is diminishing.
Governor JB Pritzker says even with diminished supply from the recent “pause” in the distribution of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, supply will soon exceed demand. But, he says, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Speaking at an event in Aurora Monday, Pritzker said the state is in a transition period in vaccinations.
“We’re in an interim period right now where demand and supply, roughly speaking, have met one another,” he said. “And, supply will soon exceed demand.”
While there has been significant pushback on vaccinations in some parts of the state, like African Americans or downstate Republicans, Pritzker says he’s confident so-called vaccine hesitancy is dropping.
“Vaccine hesitancy has diminished over time,” Pritzker said. “We’re seeing more and more that people are vaccine confident and, therefore, willing to get vaccinated.”
He says it appears many people who were hesitant to receive the shot have changed their minds due to friends and family members that have been vaccinated.
As of Monday, the state reported administering more than 8.8 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccines. Nearly 53% of the population age 16 and over is fully vaccinated. 78% of seniors have been vaccinated. Those are the targets to open the state to either the proposed bridge reopening phase, or even “Phase 5,” which is essentially re-opening.
But, Pritzker says new hospital admissions and hospitalized patients with COVID-19 continues on an upward trend, peaking between April 16 and April 19. Pritzker says until hospitalizations level off, he’s not willing to open the state completely.
“We’ve seen this movie before,” he said.
Updated at 7:58 P.M. to reflect a misquote in the final sentence.