McHenry County mayors react to last-place standing among collar counties in COVID-19 vaccination rates, total doses

About 13,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to McHenry County residents, far fewer than any of the other collar counties, a reality that has Woodstock Mayor Brian Sager and some other local leaders frustrated.

McHenry County is in the bottom half of all counties in terms of the percentage of its population that has been fully vaccinated at 0.98% and is last among the collar counties in terms of both that statistic and total doses administered, according to Illinois Department of Public Health data. The area trails Kane County, which has given the second-fewest doses among collar counties, by more than 9,600 doses, according to the state data.

“I’m disappointed in the rate at which the rollout is occurring, that is a lack of available vaccines for us at the local level. That has really, really bothered me,” Sager said in a Monday interview.

The state in December allocated its initial doses of the COVID-19 vaccines to the 50 counties with the highest death rates per capita from the virus. Every collar county except McHenry County made the list.

“Mortality rates are an important factor to assist IDPH in identifying major [COVID-19] hot spots, which must be addressed. However, it is a measure which can disproportionately and negatively affect availability and rates of vaccine distribution in larger versus smaller populated counties,” Sager said.

Crystal Lake Mayor Haig Haleblian said he thinks other parameters should have been taken into account as well, not just mortality rates.

Huntley Mayor Chuck Sass said Wednesday that he, too, feels that McHenry County has not been supplied with enough COVID-19 vaccine doses necessary to allow for a quicker transition between phases.

“I don’t think McHenry County is getting its fair shake of the vaccine,” Sass said.

Sager pointed out that McHenry County has the sixth-largest population among counties in the state, but it ranks far below that in terms of vaccination rates.

For example, Peoria County was not among the 50 counties prioritized by the governor’s office in December but administered 20,317 doses among a population of about 180,600, according to IDPH data as of Wednesday. McHenry County, at more than 308,000 residents, administered 12,995 shots.

Between Tuesday and Wednesday, more than 3,900 administered doses were added to the state data total for Peoria County, while 718 were added to McHenry County’s count.

Winnebago County, the state’s seventh most populous, administered more than 15,700 shots as of Wednesday afternoon.

Both Sager and McHenry Mayor Wayne Jett said the McHenry County Department of Health is putting shots into the arms of residents and workers as often as possible with the limited supply of vaccines available in the area.

Jett said his city will offer any resources it possibly can to the McHenry County health department to assist with the vaccination campaign.

“I don’t want McHenry County to be at the outset of the lowest number of vaccines in people’s arms,” Jett said. He was confident the pace would pick up soon.

“I think we’re going to be hammering them out, and I’m hoping it’s a lot of these teachers that will feel safer while the schools are opening,” Jett said. “I am not disappointed. They are making huge strides right now and I think we will be in a good spot soon.”

Haleblian said the slow vaccine rollout is something that needs to be addressed on a federal and state level.

“The interest and the need and desire is there,” Haleblian said. “I just don’t think we’re getting enough [of] the vaccine. ... If I could wave my magic wand and have plenty of vaccines here, I would.”

Sass said he has spoken with many Huntley residents who are feeling concerned, either about the safety of the vaccine or the pace at which the rollout has been going.

“It’s going to be months before everybody can get vaccinated,” Sass said. “Where are the vaccines? I know they’re not coming to McHenry County like they should.”

The city of Crystal Lake talks to the McHenry County health department weekly to see what needs to be done on this front, Haleblian said.

As Crystal Lake is the largest municipality in McHenry County, Haleblian said he really wants a vaccination site in the city.

“We are working on that,” he said in a phone interview Wednesday.

Crystal Lake currently has registration information on its website.

While Sass said he was encouraged to see that Huntley’s health care workers and a number of first responders have received the vaccine, he said he now is concerned about the nearly 10,000 seniors that live in Del Webb’s Sun City Huntley, a local age-restricted community for those 55 and older.

He said he also has spoken with a number of his constituents who said they are confused about when the vaccine will be available to them and how they can best sign up to receive it. He said they’ve consulted different sources of information that have told them different things.

“It’s so hard to follow,” Sass said. “You read one thing, and … then somebody else says something different.”