Kendall County Health Department administering COVID-19 vaccine to front-line workers

This story was updated at 3:04 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 5

The Kendall County Health Department reported Tuesday, Jan. 5, that it has received 700 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine so far and expects to have administered all of those doses by the beginning of next week.

Health Department Executive Director RaeAnn VanGundy said the department currently is administering the vaccine to front-line workers in accordance with Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice recommendations. The workers include those in health care facilities who are not affiliated with a hospital, EMS staff, optometry staff, school nurses, congregate care staff, dentists and hygienists, pharmacy staff and those working in dialysis centers, home health care and hospices services, podiatry services and funeral homes, VanGundy said.

“We’re really confident that this is what’s going to get us to herd immunity,” VanGundy said. “This is the beginning of the end of the pandemic. The more we can get this into people’s arms the sooner this is going to end.”

No adverse reactions from the injection have been reported in the county except for soreness in the arm, VanGundy said.

VanGundy said that her office does not know when the county will receive more doses of the vaccine from the state or how many will be in each shipment. Health department officials previously have said they anticipate it will take several weeks to vaccinate front-line health care personnel, per a statement released late last month

The health department does not collect data on how many health care workers have turned down the vaccine Van Gundy said. Surveys sent to health care facilities ask how many doses are wanted, with vaccine allocation determined by need.

“To me, it’s not important” what percentage of health care workers have declined the vaccine, VanGundy said. “I just need to know how many people want it.

“As this moves on and people are becoming more confident in the vaccine and they see the success of the exposure going down, hopefully this helps them to make an informed decision on whether to take the vaccine,” she said.

The health department announced Dec. 28 that it had received its first initial shipment of 400 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from the Illinois Department of Public Health. The county’s second shipment of 300 doses arrived last week.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the use of the Moderna vaccine Dec. 18, through an emergency authorization after conducting a thorough evaluation of the available safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality information, the health department said in a statement.

Additional vaccine doses are expected to arrive on a weekly basis. There will be a limited supply in the beginning, but supply will continually increase in the weeks and months to follow, the health department has said.

In preparation for more vaccines becoming available, the health department is working with the IDPH to implement a statewide vaccine registration and scheduling tool. This will aid in the vaccine distribution process moving forward, according to the health department.