The City of Evanston’s Health and Human Services Department is encouraging all individuals 16 years or older who live or work in Evanston to complete an online survey to help the City better understand local vaccine demand and to support its ongoing vaccination planning and distribution efforts.
Individuals who complete the City’s COVID-19 Vaccination Interest Form, available at cityofevanston.org/vaccine, will receive regular updates on the vaccine process and when and where COVID-19 vaccinations will be available to them. Completing the form will not register individuals to receive a vaccine.
For households with more than one person, each individual should complete the form separately. A Spanish version of the form will be available on the City’s website this week.
“The City is following a phased approach to vaccination as recommended by the Illinois Department of Public Health. While vaccine supplies are limited, vaccinations are being prioritized for frontline healthcare and essential workers, as well as individuals at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19,” said Health and Human Services Director Ike Ogbo.
“We continue to work closely with our local, state and federal healthcare partners to ensure vaccinations are distributed quickly and efficiently as we progress through our phased distribution plan and prepare to expand vaccinations to the general public in the coming months.”
Since Dec. 17, the City has received 3,550 COVID-19 vaccine doses, and has provided 2,765 of those doses to Evanston hospitals, healthcare providers, and paramedics. The City anticipates administering 500 additional vaccine doses at a closed vaccination event for non-hospital and community-based healthcare workers this week.
At the current pace of vaccine distribution in Evanston — with enough received to provide the required two doses of vaccine to about 600 people per week, it could take 100 weeks to vaccinate the roughly 60,000 Evanston residents in vaccine-eligible age groups.
Officials at the state and local level are hoping vaccine production and distribution will ramp up substantially once President-elect Joe Biden takes office. Gov. J.B. Pritzker this week said he hopes the pace of distribution will soon increase four-fold.
City officials say Evanston residents should not complete the Cook County Department of Public Health’s Vaccination Survey, because the city’s Health Department will manage vaccine distribution in Evanston.