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Illinois smokers are now among the priority groups eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine.
As part of the state’s immunization schedule, residents with certain high-risk medical conditions – including smoking – can now be vaccinated, along with the elderly and medical and essential workers.
The switch to phase 1B + came into effect on February 25. The expansion was made in order to “advance the state’s goal of equitable distribution” to communities of color, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health website.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, being a “current or former cigarette smoker” puts you at increased risk for serious COVID-19 illness.
Statistics from the CDC show that 21% of Native Americans smoke, the highest level among demographic groups. Whites come next with 15.5%, followed by Blacks (14.9%), Hispanics (9%) and Asians (7%).
“Smokers are much more vulnerable than normal people because smoking compromises your immune system by fighting infections and bacteria,” said Dr. Samuel Kim, thoracic surgeon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
“Nicotine is an addictive drug. Instead of seeing it as a habit and more of an addiction, then I think more people will understand this decision, ”Kim said.
Besides smoking, medical conditions included include cancer, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, heart problems, immunocompromised conditions due to a solid organ transplant, obesity, pregnancy, lung disease and sickle cell anemia. The global expansion will allow up to 3.4 million people in Illinois to receive vaccinations, according to the IDPH.
The CDC says about 15.5% of adults in Illinois smoke, which could mean more than 1.5 million smokers could potentially be eligible.
Health officials in Chicago and Cook County, as well as DuPage, Lake, Kane, McHenry and Will counties, said they did not yet have enough vaccines to begin vaccinating medically vulnerable residents. However, other counties in the state have started to do so.
Some pharmacies, including Walgreens, have started vaccinating Illinois residents for health problems.
Additionally, a mass site that will be run by the federal government at the United Center on the Near West Side will begin vaccinating people with health concerns at some point after it opens on March 10, when it initially plans to. limit vaccines to the elderly.
How the sites that administer the vaccine verify you have a priority medical condition depends on local health departments, Governor JB Pritzker said last week.
It is not clear how they will check if you are a smoker.
“In order to ensure that individuals are in the correct current phase for vaccines, residents may be asked to provide supporting documentation for their essential worker status or their underlying medical conditions,” Dr Kiran Joshi, physician- chief and co-director at the Cook County Public Health Department, said in a statement.
Walgreens asks those who sign up for dates to guarantee online that they have a qualifying medical condition.
In New Jersey, no proof or medical records are needed to get the vaccine, The New York Times reported.
Despite the CDC’s designation of smoking as high risk, at least one other state, Oregon, has excluded smokers from the list of medical conditions that qualify a person for a vaccine, according to the Oregonian.
On Tuesday, Chicagoans had mixed reactions allowing smokers to join the groups of those who could be vaccinated in Illinois, and stressed that it could be easy to play against the system.
“If they’re more at risk, personally I don’t have a problem,” said Gabriela Torres, from Pilsen. “I don’t want people to die.”
Another resident of the neighborhood, Emily Abarquez, said she could see how some people might object, as smoking can be a ‘lifestyle choice’. She also wondered if someone could just start smoking and get the shot.
“If I really wanted the vaccine and knew smokers would come before my group, I could just start smoking a pack a day,” said Abarquez, who said that he personally didn’t mind that smokers had the priority.
Javier Colin, a Brighton Park resident, who smoked a cigarillo on the street Tuesday, said “I don’t care, to be honest” that he could be given priority. He said he had no plans to get the vaccine now or in the future.
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