Sen. Chapin Rose | Facebook
Sen. Chapin Rose | Facebook
Hundreds of not-yet-eligible staff members at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign were allowed to register for the COVID-19 vaccine in February. This was reportedly a result of county health officials not understanding protocols given to them from the state government.
Individuals who were allowed to wrongly register included basketball coaches.
The estimate from the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District is that 1,500 employees were wrongly given the coronavirus vaccine in early February. The reason given for this was "ambiguity" in the vaccination guidelines in Illinois.
"I raised this over a month ago: pointing out that ineligible, otherwise healthy young people were getting vaccinated when seniors and the disabled couldn't find a shot anywhere," state Sen. Chapin Rose stated on his Facebook account on March 7.
Further reasons were given for the mistake being made.
According to the Illinois vaccination plan, kindergarten through 8th grade teachers as well as preschool and childcare workers were a part of phase 1b. There was no mention in the regulations about higher education workers, creating the confusion for health administrators. University staff members were at first meant to receive the vaccine during phase 1c.
University employees who received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine in error were nonetheless allowed to receive the second dose.
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