McHenry County says Johnson & Johnson decision key to vaccinating homebound residents

The McHenry County Department of Health plans to use partnerships with local home health care agencies and the Illinois National Guard to vaccinate medically homebound residents against COVID-19, but the department still hopes to use Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine to avoid certain logistical hurdles.

Use of the vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson was paused April 13 to investigate potentially dangerous but extremely rare blood clots, which have affected 15 out of the almost 8 million people who have received the vaccine worldwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A CDC advisory committee met Friday to discuss whether the hold should be lifted, and as the McHenry County health department builds a plan to vaccinate residents who are homebound for medical reasons, Public Health Nursing Director Susan Karras said Friday morning that she was hoping for some good news.

“We’re hoping to have a decision on whether they’re going to lift that pause,” Karras said, adding later, “Things are – they’re lined up, they’re ready to go, it’s just kind of getting the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration was given the green light by the advisory committee Friday afternoon to resume use of the vaccine, according to The Associated Press.

U.S. health officials have lifted an 11-day pause on Johnson & Johnson vaccinations after the expert panel’s recommendation.

The FDA will add a warning to the label of the vaccine to inform medical professionals and members of the public about possible blood clots, according to a presentation shown during the CDC advisory committee meeting.

Both Moderna’s and Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccines must be kept in an ultra-low temperature freezer and, if thawed to room temperature, must be used within hours, according to the CDC. They also require two doses weeks apart while the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is only one shot and can be stored at temperatures ranging from 36 degrees to 46 degrees.

Due to these factors, the task of traveling around the county and going into homes to vaccinate homebound residents is made significantly less complicated with the use of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, Karras said.

At the start of March, McHenry County Board Chairman Mike Buehler said there would be “news forthcoming within the coming weeks” on how the county planned to reach homebound residents.

This initially was delayed as the county waited to receive its first shipment of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and then the pause in vaccinations to investigate blood clots delayed things even further, Karras said.

“There is always a curveball,” she said.

But this doesn’t mean that some residents identified as being homebound haven’t been vaccinated in the meantime, Karras said.

Some have been able to come to the health department’s clinics with the help of friends or family but are unable to leave the car, she said. For those who are able to make this work, staff has made accommodations to get them checked in before administering the vaccine to them in the car.

Karras and her team had a meeting Tuesday with a number of organizations that work closely with local homebound populations, including Meals on Wheels – a meal delivery service – and local home health care agencies. These partners have been helping the health department in understanding how many homebound people live in the county and how best to reach them, she said.

“That list is getting smaller because some of these individuals do have the capability. Even though they’re classified as homebound, they still can get out of the home to go to doctor’s appointments or to get some basic needs done,” Karras said.

The health department currently is in the process of working with the partners that have trained medical personnel capable of administering vaccines to formulate a plan to vaccinate homebound residents once the Johnson & Johnson hold is officially lifted, she said.

Health officials also may use the mobile unit of Illinois National Guard members currently deployed in McHenry County to help with the vaccine rollout, she said. The county received its third National Guard unit this week, two of which are stationed at the McHenry site and the third of which is at the new clinic location at Willow Creek Community Church in Crystal Lake.

Karras said she expects they will need to find a way to make some doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines available to homebound people who have expressed a strong aversion to receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Since people typically can choose from appointments offering various kinds of vaccines, offering another option to homebound residents who strongly prefer not to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine would seem to be the most equitable way of doing things, she said.

Once the hold is lifted, Karras said, they should be able to begin vaccinating homebound residents “fairly quickly,” barring any unforeseen circumstances.

The health department’s goal is to have fully vaccinated all homebound county residents who wish to receive the vaccine by the end of May. However, with the use of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, that target date can be moved up by a few weeks, Karras said.

• The Associated Press contributed to this article.