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July 1, 2021

News • July 1, 2021

Kane and McHenry Counties surpass 70% vaccination goal

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KANE COUNTY – The Kane County Health Department (KCHD) issued a press release on July 1, in which they presented figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), demonstrating that 71.9% of Kane County residents ages 18 years or older, have had at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. 54.9% of the county’s population 18 years or older, have been fully vaccinated.

Kathy Fosser, KCHD’s interim executive director, was ecstatic to announce how the county had surpassed President Joe Biden’s goal of vaccinating at least 70% of the adult population by July 4.

“We are so proud of the efforts of our community partners, staff and volunteers for surpassing this goal,” Fosser said. “We will continue to operate the KaneVax Hub in Batavia, and provide community-based vaccination clinics throughout the county in an effort to vaccinate as much of our population as possible.”

She continued, “There are many other community partner clinics our residents may go to as well. We are not out of the woods yet. With the new variants that seem to be more transmissible than the original strain, it is vital that we continue to increase our vaccination rate.”

In comparison, McHenry County has administered 70.6% of at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to residents 18 years or older. 55.4% of individuals 18 years or older have been fully vaccinated, according to CDC data.

This couples with the news the McHenry County Department of Health (MCDH) made on June 29, stating they are now giving away free Six Flags tickets at participating vaccination clinics and events, as an incentive to encourage more McHenry County residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Additionally, as the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for use in those 12 years or older, agencies such as Huntley Community School District 158 (D158), have also ramped up their efforts in providing the vaccine to the county’s youth.

D158 in partnership with Walgreens pharmacy, will be running a vaccination clinic for students 12 years or older on July 10 for the first dose and July 31 for the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

CDC data reports that 178,557 McHenry County individuals 12 years or older have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. 138,256 of that population has been fully vaccinated.

Kane County on the other hand, has vaccinated 309,681 residents 12 years or older with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. 232,912 eligible youth, have been fully vaccinated.

At least 71.6% of the total population of Illinois residents ages 18 and older have received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the CDC. 56.3% of the Illinois population 18 years and older have been fully vaccinated as of June 30.

For those 12 years and older, the total population of Illinois residents vaccinated with at least one dose of the vaccine, stands at 69.1%. 53.7% of the 12 years and older crowd in Illinois, has been fully vaccinated.

13-year-old McHenry County resident Katherine Pflueger, who has since been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, stated she was excited at the prospect of getting back to normal activities that she missed out on last summer.

“Getting vaccinated will prevent other people from getting the virus and allow you to do more things over the summer break,” Pflueger said. “You can go out with friends without getting the virus, or you can go to beaches.”

Dr. Laura Buthod, licensed pediatrician and MCDH medical advisor, explained that similarly to adults, older school-aged children continue to drive positive cases in McHenry County and should therefore be encouraged to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

“Our history of safety with childhood vaccines, and our current safety experience with 170 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines that have been given, allow me to unconditionally recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for all children 12 years and up. My hope is the freedoms the vaccine provides will allow children the opportunities they need to grow and develop normally,” Buthod said in a June 7 press release.