City Room™ - News In Brief - Cook Suburbs Get Vaccine Influx, Still Lag Chicago

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City RoomTM Public Affairs coverage from our award-winning staff

Cook Suburbs Get Vaccine Influx, Still Lag Chicago
Produced by Gabriel Spitzer on Friday, October 30, 2009

H1N1, Swine Flu vaccine. (AP/Rich Schultz)

Suburban Cook County just got an influx of pandemic flu vaccine, but their supply still lags behind Chicago’s.

Cook County suburbs got about 50,000 doses of swine flu vaccine yesterday. Public health workers are taking appointments for high-priority patients. Before yesterday’s infusion, the county had received just 20,000 doses, compared with 150,000 for the city of Chicago.

With the new shipment, suburban Cook has still only gotten about a tenth of the doses the state gave out – even though it has nearly a fourth of the state’s population, outside Chicago. State Senator Susan Garrett says that’s a problem.

GARRETT: That’s something that deeply concerns me because the Illinois Department of Public Health absolutely should have a policy in place where there are decision being made based on fairness. And especially being made based on the need of children.

A state Department of Public Health spokeswoman didn’t offer an explanation, except to say factors besides population can affect a region’s share. She says much more vaccine is on the way.

John Owrey, Riverside // Friday, October 30, 2009 @ 12:07 AM

This is sadly about "par for the course" for Cook County Suburbs. Having just received the 2nd half of our taxes, it occurred to me that we are front and center for paying above our share. However, when it comes to sharing resources we always are expected to wait until after Chicago gets theirs. Could it be clout? Cannot help but wonder. If you do not buy it try driving from 290 to 55 on 1st Avenue.