Illinois launches $10 million campaign to raise vaccine awareness

Illinois will launch a $10 million public awareness campaign aimed at residents in the state’s hardest-hit communities who are reluctant to receive COVID-19 vaccines, Gov. JB Pritzker announced Friday.

The multi-lingual campaign will feature Illinoisans who have been personally impacted by COVID-19. Advertisements will run on TV; streaming audio and radio; billboards and bus shelters; and digital, print and social media.

“Vaccine hesitancy is real, and misinformation is rampant, especially on social media,” Pritzker said in a statement. “So Illinois is acting proactively to share the message: All three of the approved vaccines were 100% effective in trials for stopping hospitalizations and death.”

The campaign is paid for by federal funds. Advertisements will more heavily target communities with lower vaccination rates and higher vulnerability scores, as determined by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

“I empathize with the Illinoisans who are unsure about whether to take the vaccine, and we’re launching this campaign to speak directly to them,” said department Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “I encourage everyone to do your research and listen to the personal stories of real Illinoisans who believe in the vaccine.”

About 8.9 percent of Illinoisans have now been fully vaccinated, according to recent data from the Illinois Department of Public Health.

As of Saturday, 1,136,344 Illinoisans have been fully vaccinated. Of those fully vaccinated, nearly 71 percent are white. Black and Latinx Illinoisans each make up 7.7 percent of those vaccinated.

Asian Illinoisans make up 5.3 percent of those fully vaccinated, and 2.2 percent are people of other races. The department said the race or ethnicity of 5.7 percent of those who have been fully vaccinated is unknown.

Of the 3,358,214 total vaccine doses administered, about 69 percent have gone to white Illinoisans. Latinx Illinoisans have received 8.7 percent of the vaccines, while nearly 8 percent have gone to Black Illinoisans, 5 percent have gone to Asian Illinoisans and 2.3 percent have gone to people of other races. Nearly 7 percent have gone to those with an unknown race or ethnicity.

There have been 3,824,675 doses of COVID-19 vaccines delivered to Illinois providers, including in Chicago. An additional 443,700 doses have been allocated to the federal partnership program for long-term care facilities.

The department reported 3,633 cases of COVID-19 over the weekend, bringing the total to 1,198,335.

The state’s death toll is at 20,763 after 64 more deaths were reported over the weekend.

The seven-day statewide positivity rate for cases as a percent of total tests is 2.3 percent, a 0.1 percent drop from last week. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity using the number of COVID-19 positive tests over total tests is 2.8 percent, a 0.1 percent increase from last week.

There were 147,342 tests processed over the weekend. A total of 18,640,190 tests have been processed.

As of Saturday night, 1,141 Illinoisans were in the hospital with COVID-19, a decrease of 124 from last week. Of the patients in the hospital this week, 255 were in the ICU and 112 patients were on ventilators, the latter a decrease of 38 from last week.

Thirty-one percent of Illinois’ 32,558 hospital beds were available as of Sunday morning. Twenty-nine percent of the state’s 3,389 ICU beds were available as were 80 percent of the state’s 5,623 ventilators.

Additionally, the department announced Friday 37 new COVID-19 deaths at long-term care facilities over the past week, 131 fewer than the prior week.

The new deaths bring the total number of COVID-19 deaths linked to Illinois long-term care facilities to 9,894.