Some communities in Lake County — like Lincolnshire, Highland Park, Buffalo Grove and Deerfield — are approaching 80% herd immunity against the coronavirus pandemic, while in others like North Chicago, Zion and Winthrop Harbor, barely a third of the population is vaccinated.
The Illinois Department of Public Health recently started publishing COVID-19 vaccination statistics by ZIP code on its website providing a picture of which communities are heavily vaccinated and which are not.
Lincolnshire is the most inoculated community in the county with 75.15% of its residents fully vaccinated. Highland Park is next at 71.08%, Buffalo Grove at 69.84% and Deerfield at 68.43% as of Monday, according to the website.
“We’ve taken this whole thing very seriously,” Buffalo Grove Village President Beverly Sussman said. “We required masks before the governor did. We’ve had mass vaccinations. We’re all helping our families and our neighbors.”
Community is one of the reasons Deerfield Mayor Dan Shapiro said he believes the vaccination rate is high in the village. A mass vaccination site at the Patty Turner Center, where 12,000 doses were administered, helped too.
“When it’s in your backyard, two minutes away, that’s going to help,” Shapiro said. “Residents here have always cared about each other. They did it for themselves, their families and others.”
Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering said the city took a comprehensive approach to both communicating with the community as soon as vaccinations were available, and finding ways that those with challenges could be vaccinated. Social media and email blasts were part of the mix.
“We made provisions for seniors who were homebound and could not get out of their houses,” Rotering said. “When the Pfizer vaccine got full FDA approval (Monday), we made sure everyone knew about that. It’s necessary for everyone (eligible) to stop and get the vaccine.”
While vaccination information by ZIP code paints a picture of where strong efforts were successful and places more needs to be done, Lake County health department Executive Director Mark Pfister said some of the information is good and other data can be misleading.
Pfister said some ZIP codes include multiple communities, while other municipalities are spread among several ZIP codes. The vaccination statistics by ZIP code include the percentage of all residents who received shots, not just those eligible. Children under 12 cannot yet get the vaccine.
Fox Lake is one of those communities spread over multiple ZIP codes. Mayor Donny Schmit said his village is spread across two counties, Lake and McHenry, three townships and four ZIP codes. Some are among the highest in the area, and others are in the lowest.
The McHenry County portion of Fox Lake, in the 60081 ZIP code along with Spring Grove, is second only to Lincolnshire at 71.64%. Other parts of Fox Lake are in ZIP codes which range between 43.79% fully vaccinated and 48.65%.
Schmit said Fox Lake has held two vaccination clinics, where approximately 3,000 people received their shots when they were hard to get. Now anyone who wants one can walk into a local pharmacy. Vaccination is far preferable than combating the disease.
“The risk versus reward analysis is tremendous,” Schmit said. “Would you rather have a poke in your arm and a few days of discomfort, or have someone shove a tube down your throat while you fight for your life. It’s an easy choice to make.”
Different types of populations can make a difference, too. Areas with younger families, who have children under 12, have less opportunity to reach a high percentage than those with a larger senior population.
Lincolnshire is home to a large senior living community and an adult communal living facility, where the vaccination rate is high. Mayor Liz Brandt said in a text she credits that as a reason for the village’s high percentage, as well as the town’s emphasis on education.
“We have an extremely educated and dedicated community,” Brandt said in the text. “I believe (our institutions) have contributed to us being the most vaccinated community as well as the social media education and daily information put out by our staff.”
Overall, Lake County is 55.53% vaccinated. In general, Pfister said the southern part of the county has more vaccinated people than the northern portion. In places like North Chicago and Waukegan, there is hesitancy because of government mistrust, he said.
“Some people are waiting for their medical provider to tell them to go get it,” Pfister said. “Others don’t want the vaccine at all. We highly recommend the vaccine. It’s the number one tool against serious illness and death. Without it, the body is not trained to fight the virus.”
Waukegan Mayor Ann Taylor said in a statement she recognizes some residents have concerns about the “safety and efficacy” of the vaccine. She hopes the full FDA approval of the Pfizer vaccine will help. She lets residents know the city lags behind other municipalities.
“Along with our nine aldermen, I have encouraged those who have concerns to ignore social media and speak to their trusted medical provider,” she said in the statement. “I remain hopeful that the FDA approval for the Pfizer vaccine will help alleviate vaccine concerns.”
While Winthrop Harbor has the lowest vaccination rate in the county at 32.32%, interim village administrator Bob Long said he questions the accuracy of the number. With the village closer to Kenosha, Wisconsin, than Waukegan, many residents have medical providers across the state line. The village does what it can to encourage vaccination.
“We’re a small village,” Long said. “We tell everyone we know to get vaccinated. We just tell folks.”
Pfister said Long’s contention people from towns like Winthrop Harbor and Antioch, which border Wisconsin, were vaccinated there has merit. Pfister has knowledge 30,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered to Illinois residents in Wisconsin. It could be as many as 20,000 individuals, depending on which vaccine they received.
In Zion, where the vaccination rate is 36.38%, Mayor Billy McKinney said he worked with Cancer Treatment Centers of America in the city to provide shots to residents. With the delta variant increasing the number of new cases, he may try to make the facility available again. He also said some residents may have received shots in Wisconsin.
In North Chicago, where 36.59% of residents have been vaccinated, Mayor Leon Rockingham said younger people seem reluctant to get inoculated. He is hopeful with school opening Monday more people will get their shots.
“Parents want their children to be safe,” Rockingham said. “They don’t want their children to bring this terrible disease into the house where their grandparents may also live.
“We need to get vaccinated so we can take off our masks,” he added.
