Live reporting by
Ahmad Sayles
Two million Chicagoans vaccinated, Vaccine outreach and impact
Ahmad Sayles
@ahmad_sayles
Good Evening! I’ll be tweeting today’s Committee on Health and Human Relations meeting for @CHIdocumenters #CHIdocumenters. The meeting took place this afternoon. Due to COVID-19, this hearing was held remotely. Agenda here: chicago.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=A&…
08:15 PM May 3, 2021 CDT
Chairman Sawyer (6) calls the meeting to order. 13 members attended the meeting. Quorum reached. No public comments.
There was a typo in the agenda given to the public. The first item on the agenda should’ve been approval of April’s Monthly 45 report, not March.
The committee passed the approval of April’s Monthly 45 Report unanimously.
The second item on the agenda was the Appointment of Mamadou Diakhate as Executive Director of Animal Care and Control. Mr. Diakhate serves as the acting director of ACC. He was a private veterinarian for 35 years and received praise from committee members for his work.
City Council members Garza(10), Hadden(49), Harris(8) all give endorsements of the appointment. Committee moves to recommend approval of the appointment at the next meeting.
The last item on the agenda is an update on the city's actions in response to the pandemic. Dr. Allison Arwady, Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health gives the presentation.
Commissioner Arwady says in comparison to the rest of the state Chicago has done better in mitigating the virus. 1 in 10 Chicagoans has been diagnosed with COVID-19 while in other parts of Illinois that number rises to 1 in 7. https://t.co/bKRlGIszsj
Commissioner Arwady explains how vaccinations for skilled nursing facilities have reduced the number of cases. The chart shows that before being vaccinated these facilities were the main drivers of COVID-19 cases. https://t.co/MztVq18FZx
Commissioner Arwady says that the two keys to reopening and having businesses open to full capacity will be healthcare capacity and vaccinations.
Other highlights from Commissioner Arwady’s presentation were the city passing the benchmark of 2 million Chicagoans being vaccinated and claiming that Chicago has had the most equitable vaccine distribution in the U.S. https://t.co/Vm2lQgPuv4
Increasing vaccine providers, mobile vaccination efforts, and the homebound program are the main objectives of CDPH right now in the fight against COVID-19.
City Council members ask the commissioner what is the strategy to continue the vaccine outreach. Commissioner Arwady says that the city may activate park districts as vaccination sites to reach deeper into communities.
Dr. Arwady also says that she anticipates that 12-15 years old will be eligible for the vaccine later this month. And the city is planning for that endeavor.
Vaccine hesitancy, achieving herd immunity, and vaccine waste are the main concerns from the council members. Persistent outreach and oversight is the way to rectify those issues says Commissioner Arwady.
Chairman Sawyer thanks Commissioner Arwady for her presentation & work. The commissioner and committee members agree to stay in touch and bounce new ideas off of each other to help in Chicago’s fight against COVID-19. Chairman Sawyer adjourns the meeting.
Chicago City Council’s Committee on Health and Human Relations meeting lasted approximately two hours. This ends my coverage for @CHIdocumenters more information through Chloe Vitale’s notes at documenters.org