The Cook County Department of Public Health late Monday apologized for confusion surrounding a newly-released survey regarding COVID-19 vaccination updates.
Early in the day, the health department's website stated that a registration form would be used "to gather information from individuals who would like to receive regular updates about when and where they can receive the COVID-19 vaccination."
The webpage encouraged people to complete a survey if they "were an individual, and not affiliated with a health care organization of any type."
The department, however, noted that doses remain limited and are currently being administered to prioritized populations, including health care workers and long-term care facility residents and staff.
Later in the day, Cook County DPH officials clarified that the survey is primarily meant for health care workers.
"We soft-launched late last week with the hopes of being nimble, agile and timely," said Dr. Kiran Joshi, senior medical officer and co-lead with the Cook County Department of Public Health. "Really the goal was to get information from our residents and to push information out. So with that, I suppose our enthusiasm was high. We learned from our error."
The survey itself is not a vaccine registry, according to officials. The CCDPH also cautions that it will likely take through January and into February to get all health care workers vaccinated in Phase 1A of the county’s plan to distribute the vaccine, so it encourages residents to be patient as information is gathered and disseminated.
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"We are going to be pushing out information that's health care focused," Joshi said. "That said, it's a public-facing survey, so anyone can sign up for information, and we'll push out information regardless."
As of Monday, more than 40,000 people have signed up to receive updates from the county.
Vaccines will be given through health providers, while the county will organize some vaccination drives and other events, according to a press release.
