Barbara and Brian McCarthy were dismayed when they learned the governor had diverted COVID-19 vaccine doses away from the federal program managing vaccinations at long-term care facilities to make them available to other eligible seniors and front-line workers.
It has been nearly a year since they have seen Barbara McCarthy’s mother in person at the Naperville memory care facility where she lives, and they are already frustrated at the slow pace of long-term care vaccinations. They fear Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s announcement this week will mean more delays.
“Truly, I just want my mom vaccinated so we can get back in to be with her,” said McCarthy, who also lives in Naperville.
They learned of the state’s new vaccine plans after Illinois public health officials said Wednesday they would reallocate 97,000 doses from the federal partnership with CVS Health and Walgreens, which is handling vaccinations of residents and staff at long-term care facilities.
Pritzker and officials in other states have criticized the federal program for moving too slowly. As of Thursday, the federal government had allocated 496,100 of Illinois’ vaccine doses to the long-term care program, and 178,848 had been administered, state data shows.
Residents of long-term care facilities were among the first priority group eligible to receive the vaccine, known as 1A. The state is now also vaccinating the second priority group, known as 1B, which includes seniors over age 65 and front-line workers.
The vaccine diversion comes as those outside care facilities who are now eligible for the vaccine have described frustration trying to access doses and appointments that are hard to come by. Kane and DuPage County officials have urged patience, and said demand for the vaccine currently exceeds supply.
Pritzker has said the state is able to reallocate shots from the federal long-term care program without risking a shortage there because the federal government initially overestimated the number of doses that would be needed at those facilities.
“As it turns out, they counted every bed and not every person. As you know there are facilities that are not full,” he has said. “In addition, they assumed that every person that would be offered, including staff, would take the vaccine. That also has not been the case.
“So essentially, there has been a reallocation out of that to make sure that we can get as many vaccines into the arms of as many people as possible.”
The state will be ready to replenish the federal partnership program if necessary, officials have said. In a statement, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Ngozi Ezike said long-term care residents and staff remain a top priority.
Jarett Sanchez, chairman of the Kane County Public Health Committee, said it might make sense to reallocate doses if the program has more vaccines than necessary. Officials must get as much of the population vaccinated as quickly as possible, particularly as they remain concerned about new variants of the virus, he said.
Still, he said he hoped any reallocation would not take necessary doses away from the facilities.
“If their family members are still in these facilities, they still will be able to be vaccinated,” he said.
Barbara McCarthy, however, remains concerned. And she feels a sense of urgency for her 90-year-old mother, who lives at the memory care facility The Auberge at Naperville, to receive her vaccine.
McCarthy said she last saw her mother, Mary Byrnes, in mid-March, 2020. Though she has been able to talk with her mother via FaceTime during the pandemic, she said that’s not ideal.
“The sooner this is done, the quicker people can interact in a personal way,” she said.
Byrnes was scheduled to receive her first shot in early February through CVS Health, but the appointment was canceled, McCarthy said. They were told it was due to limited vaccine supply.
Byrnes is now scheduled to receive her first dose the second week of February, McCarthy said. She worries that appointment, too, might be canceled now that doses have been diverted.
Representatives of The Auberge at Naperville did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
McCarthy praised the staff at The Auberge for their work throughout the pandemic. To her, the problem is with the slow pace of the federal long-term care vaccine program and the state’s decision to reallocate doses to other groups of people.
McCarthy wonders why the state isn’t being more aggressive in vaccinating long-term care facility residents, who make up a large proportion of the people who have died of COVID-19 in Illinois. If the governor is frustrated by the slow pace of long-term care facility vaccinations, she wonders why he doesn’t try to improve the program.
“The most endangered are languishing,” her husband, Brian McCarthy, said.
“My frustration is, it’s now delaying it more for me to be able to get in and see her again,” McCarthy said. “To be with her. To open Auberge back up.”
The Associated Press and Chicago Tribune contributed.
sfreishtat@tribpub.com
