Teen population ‘only true demand’ for COVID-19 vaccine in DeKalb County lately, health officials say

SYCAMORE – A week after the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was cleared for emergency use in adolescents ages 12 to 15, DeKalb County health officials said that age group accounts for the majority of local demand in recent days.

In a DeKalb County Board meeting Wednesday, DeKalb County Health Department Public Health Administrator Lisa Gonzalez called the development “significant” because almost 30% of positive COVID-19 cases in the county at that time were in school-aged children. She said virus cases went from 428 in March to 1,048 in April.

“So immediately, when that announcement was made, we began to offer and plan for clinics for that group,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said the uptick in cases among school-aged children didn’t come from spread in the classroom.

“There was a lot of spread within extracurricular activities, in teams in all of the districts,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said that during the past few weeks overall demand for the vaccine has decreased and vaccine supply has been more adequate to demand than it was been in the past for the department. As a result, she said, the county has moved to an “order-as-needed model” at this point.

“It really has shifted dramatically since we last discussed this,” Gonzalez told County Board members.

She said the health department previously was filling up clinics easily and quickly, with people still unable to reserve an appointment.

“Now we are not really filling full clinics anymore and the demand really isn’t as significant,” Gonzalez said. “The only true demand that we have currently is the 12 to 16 year old population that can get Pfizer now. We have seen some demand for that, but even that was a little lower than what we anticipated.”

As of Wednesday, just shy of a third of DeKalb County’s 104,000 population has been fully vaccinated, or 33,640 residents, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

DeKalb County Board member Bill Cummings asked Gonzalez if any incentives could step up vaccine demand within the county.

“Some states are offering incentives of various types – lottery tickets and other things,” Cummings said.

Gonzalez said those conversations continue, including the possibility of the county health department obtaining a few Six Flags Great America amusement park tickets to hand out to people getting vaccinated. Although she said she feels the health department has been doing everything they could to make the vaccine more accessible, including hosting more mobile and walk-in clinics, she has instances in which only about five people attend those clinics.

“So I’m not sure that incentive of what type of incentive would really drive someone who has decided not to get it,” Gonzalez said. “Because we feel like we’re making it as convenient as possible and we’re still not getting them.”

Gonzalez said she surmises adults who were on the fence about getting vaccinated might have elected not to get it after all when the Johnson and Johnson one-dose vaccine was put on hold because of rare blood clot side effect concerns. The vaccine has since been approved for widespread use again. Gonzalez said she was aware of a few surrounding counties that have tried providing incentives to people who might be less eager to receive the vaccine.

“But what we’re hearing from other counties that have done a few of those incentive type of things is that it’s not increasing significantly,” Gonzalez said. “Maybe a little, but it’s not a huge draw.”

Gonzalez told County Board members the health department previously distributed vaccines at schools to help curb community spread of illnesses and pediatricians now are able to request and administer COVID-19 vaccines to their patients. In the meantime, she said several COVID-19 vaccine clinics are scheduled at high schools within DeKalb County that are meant to target the preteen and teenage groups.

“As we go into the fall, that could be an approach that we look at, if more are available,” Gonzalez said. “We did that with H1N1, when that was active in the community. We went to schools – that’s how we got the school-aged children vaccinated. So yes, that could be a possibility.”