By Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
The list of COVID missteps, misguided policies and outright failures will be long when all is said and done on this pandemic. An abject failure to protect retirement homes. Kids shut out of schools for nearly a year. Businesses shut down by executive fiat. The imposition of a one-size-fits-all policy for an entire state. The Illinois legislature’s absolute abdication of setting COVID policy.
Add to that the line jumping for COVID vaccines.
The state’s current vaccination category, 1B, includes the 1.9 millions over the age of 65, as well as the 1.3 million younger people who are first-responders or “essential workers” such as teachers, grocery store workers and transit workers. To date, about 150,000 Illinoisans aged 65 and over have been fully vaccinated, while nearly 390,000 residents aged 16-64 are already inoculated.
But groups both inside and outside that list have been demanding they take top priority. Everyone from politicians to teachers to bartenders to transit workers to librarians and more. That is patently absurd. There are a limited number of vaccines and if everybody is at the front of the line, then no one is. That’s why getting the elderly vaccinated has been so problematic.
Just look at these news headlines:
- Chicago Teachers Union wants vaccine before returning to schools…
- Gov. J.B. Pritzker allows state lawmakers to receive COVID-19 vaccinations…
- Teachers In Wealthier School Districts Have Big Leg Up In COVID-19 Vaccine Access
- Illinois restaurants want workers prioritized in COVID-19 vaccine rollout
- When It Comes to COVID-19 Vaccine, Is Illinois’ Priority List Fair?
From the beginning, vaccination priority – indeed, the state’s entire response to the virus, as we’ve argued here and here – should have been for the elderly, those 60 and over, since they comprise a whopping 90 percent of all virus deaths in Illinois: 18,000 out of a total 20,200 COVID deaths.
That still remains true today. On Friday, as Illinois does every day, IDPH announced how many people died from COVID. Sixty-three fatalities were reported, and as usual, the list was dominated by those aged 60 and above – 86 percent to be precise.
With that in mind, there shouldn’t be any question who should be the number one priority for vaccination – Illinois’ 2.3 million elderly over the age of 60. Focus on them, get them out of the way, and Illinois’ COVID death rate will plummet, barring any significant change in the virus.
If you don’t buy that argument, look at the other side of the equation. The CDC’s COVID survival rate for those aged 20-49 – many of whom are jumping the line under the state’s vaccination policy – is 99.98 percent. Said in the opposite way, only 0.02% of those who get infected die from the virus.
Illinois’ actual reported cases and deaths offer a similar picture.
The total number of cases in Illinois for those aged 20-49 is 582,227. Total deaths in that age group are 832, resulting in a survival rate of 99.857%. (In actuality, the true survival rate is much higher. Illinois’ case reporting does not include, by definition, all the asymptomatic cases not captured by IDPH.)
As long as we’re vaccinating the line jumpers who are younger than 60, we’re vaccinating the wrong people. Every needle in the arm of a younger Illinoisan – barring frontline health care workers – leaves an elderly Illinoisan at great risk.
But for now, that’s our politics. Politicians first. Teachers unions, too. We’ll get to Grandma soon…whenever that is.
Read more about COVID-19 in Illinois.
- Illinois Vaccine Rollout Is A Fiasco In Progress And There’s No Excuse
- Want to save more Illinoisans from COVID? Vaccinate the elderly first.
- Officials refuse to open doors at top-spending Deerfield/Highland Park school district as surrounding districts return to in-class learning
- As COVID Deaths Soar In Illinois Nursing Homes, Let’s Revisit Who ‘Threw Granny Under The Bus,’ And What Went With Her
A set of state lawmakers want to extend CPS’ current school closing moratorium to February 1, 2027 – the same year CPS is set to transition to a fully-elected school board. That means schools like Manley High School, with capacity for more than 1,000 students but enrollment of just 78, can’t be closed for anther three years. The school spends $45,000 per student, but just 2.4% of students read at grade level.
Hopefully, all media will get the message, in Illinois, too.
Ted joined Tom Miller of WJPF to talk about Illinois’ highest-in-the-nation property taxes, why lawmakers don’t want to touch the tax’s cost drivers, just how much Illinoisans’ tax burden has grown over the decades, why Gov. Pritzker failed to meet his promise to reform property taxes, and more.
But, but, before the election, these folks did not want “trumps” vaccine.
I have been reviewing IDPH data since last June .This article is 100% accurate The median age of Illinois teachers is 38.7 (99% gp as you said).Numerous studies confirm children do not normally transmit the virus. Also, poorer suburbs like where my daughter teaches don’t have the clout to get in early This a moral issue .People will not listen to anything other than the media and the politicans drama and half truths!!
When is everyone gonna learn that illinois politicians and chicago teachers are WAAAAY more important than us average peeons
Are they even more important than prisoners? Asking for Gov. JB.
Not sure eugene,apparently convicts are also more important than you and i
This is the plan. Kill off the elderly, mostly Republican voters first.
This is a sick consolidation of power by JB and his sycophants under the false guise of ‘equity’.
It’s sick, and criminal, and JB should be the next IL gov to visit Stateville for his crimes against humanity.
Liberals claim they follow the science, while completely ignoring all the relevant data in order to please their political donors.
The basic data about who is most at risk of death from covid has not changed since April. The policies they have followed are in no way based on data.
Next up – climate change.
Get it right heyjude,its now called “climate injustice”
When lefties say “science” based, ask them about biology
Weird how Democratic states have rolled out the vaccine less efficiently than Republican run states. Compare IL, CA, NY with Texas and Florida…Amazing how crony capitalism and “equity” weigh on decision making in some states vs others.
I might also add that reported Covid data is slightly skewed, and there is nothing one can do about it. What percentage of Covid cases are never shown in official tests? How many 20-49 yr olds had Covid, but were never tested because they didn’t have symptoms or the symptoms were so slight they didn’t feel the need to get tested? Might move the 99.87% number to almost 100%
Hey, Jeff. You are correct. The 99.87% jumps to 99.98% according to CDC, which has included its estimates of asymptomatic cases (chart included in piece).
***“If you see the level coming down really, really very low, I want it to keep going down to a baseline that’s so low that there’s virtually no threat — or not no, it’ll never be zero, but a minimal, minimal threat that you will be exposed to someone who is infected,” Fauci said.”***
I would argue the numbers you state are virtually no threat yes…?
Whats he waiting for then…?
Exactly right. Much of my extended family had Covid but only a few were ever tested. Once someone tests positive and others in a household have symptoms, they likely have it too, but many will skip the test. I’d guess there are 3 or 4 untested cases for every positive test.
McHenry County health department has been stringing along seniors for many weeks, while at the same time coordinating hassle-free vaccinations for teachers/administrators/school employees.
http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2021/02/20/mchenry-county-covid-update-email-angers-resident/
https://www.thewoodstockindependent.com/2021/02/d-200-marian-educators-staff-get-covid-19-vaccine/
Sometimes I read about distant lands and countries like Sweden, where they actually use research and common sense to dictate public policy. The people in these places seem to understand how to care for each other, and it’s non-controversial. No, they’re not perfect, as they sometimes take it too far in other ways. But I think, “how quaint…they actually create public policy after studying the results of scientific or economic-level research, rather than obeying some public employee union or some crony capitalist hustler paying them off.” Then I’m rudely awakened to the news here, and realize that it will likely… Read more »
I can’t prove more than a correlation [not necessarily a cause and effect]. Our “melting pot” concept worked fairly well (slavery excluded) by assimilating immigrant children in the first generation. That probably had something to do with a shared religious and cultural heritage though most contemporary academics wouldn’t risk saying that. With open borders on the horizon, one expects more tilt toward non-assimilation as one sees in Western Europe and Israel. As the entitlement state expands our republic will become increasingly tribal and intractable. Politics will continue to intrude on science — though that’s not a new phenomenon. People generally… Read more »