Congressman Rodney Davis hosted a Virtual COVID-19 Listening Session with County Health Departments yesterday.
In an announcement this morning, Davis says most of the department administrators across the 13th Congressional District participated in the virtual event, including those from Greene, Macoupin and Sangamon Counties.
Davis says the discussion focused on vaccine administration, testing operations, and contact tracing. Bolstering vaccine supply, funding to get shots in arms, and earlier notification of dosage allotments to improve planning were the main areas local leaders indicated they need support from the state and the federal government.
According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, the statewide percentage of the population fully vaccinated stands at 2.35%, putting Illinois at 40th out of 50 states by that measure.
As of yesterday, the average among counties covering the 13th District is 2.79%.
Davis says local county health departments are doing an admirable job of getting vaccines administered while still continuing testing and contact tracing operations.
He says he “heard clear and consistently that departments need more vaccines, further advance communication of allotments for planning purposes, and additional funding to get shots into arms.” Davis says he is continuing to urge Governor J.B. Pritzker to take the steps necessary to get those shots into arms.
He says with hard-working, capable county health department staff like those he spoke to yesterday, there is no reason Illinois should be ranked at the tail-end of most vaccination measures.