New Data Shows Over 71% Of Highland Park Residents Are Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — New data from state public health officials shows Highland Park and Highwood residents are vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus at a significantly higher rate than state and county averages.

There are 21,134 fully vaccinated people in Highland Park's 60035 ZIP code as of Tuesday, or 71 percent of the population, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

More than 75 percent of the population have received at list a single dose of one of the two-dose coronavirus vaccines. In Highwood, the rate is about 64 percent, with 69 percent having received a first jab.

That's higher than the Lake County average of 55 percent, Cook County's 58 percent or Chicago's 54 percent vaccination rate.

Compared to nearby communities, Highland Park's vaccination rate is above that of Lake Forest, Deerfield, Glencoe and Winnetka ZIP codes, according to IDPH.

But it trails Northbrook — where nearly 75 percent of residents are fully vaccinated — and Wilmette, which has a slightly higher vaccination rate than Highland Park.

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More than 200 of the state's nearly 1,400 postal codes, mostly in rural areas, had less than 30 percent of their populations vaccinated, according to IDPH.

Meanwhile, 10 sparsely populated ZIP codes have 100 percent of their populations vaccinated.

Three with populations of 10,000 or more — two in Chicago's near North Side and one in Naperville — have more than 75 percent of their residents vaccinated, according to state data.

Statewide, 52 percent of Illinois residents have been fully vaccinated, according to IDPH. Among eligible Illinoisans aged 12 and above, including those who have been vaccinated in other states or by federal programs not included in the state database, 58 percent have been fully vaccinated.

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Federal public health officials have announced plans to offer booster shots to all adults who have received a vaccine from Pfizer or Moderna starting Sept. 20.

Health regulators have already approved boosters for certain immunocompromised people in an effort to offset the potential that the immunity the vaccine provides against coronavirus infections could wane after six to eight months.

Related: 3rd COVID-19 Shot Available To Some Illinoisans: Where To Get It

But even as the government plans to begin to offer third jabs, there are still millions of adults who have not received a first dose.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 7.57 million adult Illinois residents, or nearly 77 percent of the population aged 18 or over, have received at least one dose. More than 60 percent of adults are fully vaccinated.

That means about 5.25 million Illinois residents have not yet received a dose of vaccine.

The daily average number of doses administered in the state stood at about 40,000 Wednesday. The seven-day rolling average reached a peak of more than 130,000 in mid-April before falling below 15,000 a day in the second week of July.

While there is no data available about the number of vaccinated people who test positive for the coronavirus in Illinois, also known as breakthrough infections, there were 1,056 fully vaccinated people hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Wednesday, according to state health data.

Nearly 97 percent of the more than 7,000 people who have died from COVID-19 complications in Illinois since January have been unvaccinated, according to the state data, with just 223 deaths among those who have been fully vaccinated.

No data is available from state or local public health officials regarding how many Highland Park or Highwood residents have died of COVID-19 complications.

According to the Lake County Health Department, 1,033 residents have died countywide. Of those, at least 573 have died at long-term care facilities, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health, which stopped updating that statistic this month.