Gov.
J.B. Pritzker listens to Illinois Department of Public Health
Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike answer questions on the arrival and
distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine at the James R. Thompson
Center in the Loop, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020. | Anthony
Vazquez/Sun-Times
The vaccine marked “the beginning of the end of this
pandemic,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said.
Illinois on Monday received its first COVID-19 vaccine shipments
and workers hit the ground running to begin distributing doses to
hospitals around the state, with vaccinations beginning Tuesday for
frontline health care workers.
About 109,000 doses were expected to be delivered to Illinois
between initial shipments Monday and another round of deliveries
expected Wednesday, Pritzker said.
Chicago received a direct shipment of about 23,000 doses, with
the first shots expected to be administered to workers at Loretto
Hospital, 645 S. Central Ave., Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. The process
that will be streamed live on the mayor’s social media accounts,
according to the Chicago Department of Public Health.
The remaining 86,000 are earmarked for the state’s 50 counties
suffering the highest per capita coronavirus death rates, with
direct shipments from the federal government planned for health
departments in four of the hardest hit counties: Cook, Lake,
Madison and St. Clair.
“Today marks a momentous occasion, not just this year, but in
American history,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday. “Eleven
months after scientists the world over got their hands on the
genetic sequence of the virus, we are seeing the beginning of the
end of this pandemic.”
Hundreds of thousands of more doses are expected to arrive in
the coming weeks, Pritzker said.
Emergency use of the Pfizer vaccine, which is being manufactured
in Kalamazoo, Michigan, was approved by federal regulators
Friday.
The vaccine arrived on a day in which COVID-19 deaths in the
United States surpassed 300,000. On Monday, Illinois’ death toll
stood at 14,394.
Frontline hospital and health care workers will be first in line
for vaccines, followed by long-term care facility residents,
essential workers and people 65 or older with underlying health
conditions.
Beginning next week, the state will begin reserving portions of
those weekly shipments for residents and staff of long term care
facilities for a program being managed by the federal government
through contracts with CVS and Walgreens.
It’s estimated that the next three shipments should provide
enough doses for all the skilled nursing facilities that have
signed up through the national program, at which point the program
is expected to expand to other congregate care settings such as
assisted living facilities, according to Pritzker.
“We have been praying for this day and preparing for this day
for months,” Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the state’s chief health
official, said.
Federal guidance on what order the vaccine should be distributed
to other essential workers and vulnerable populations is expected
in the coming days.
Pritzker himself said he wasn’t sure when he’d get a
shot.
“It will be some time, and I’ll take it whenever my turn
comes up,” he said.
On Monday morning, Pritzker was at the state’s strategic
national stockpile warehouse, the location of which is being kept
secret for security reasons, to see thousands of doses transferred
to freezers prior to the next round of deliveries across the
state.
The vaccine must be stored in extremely low temperatures —
about 94 degrees below zero. Pfizer is using containers with dry
ice and GPS-enabled sensors to ensure each shipment stays colder
than the weather in Antarctica.
The doses were the first of two shots designed to be
administered several weeks apart.
Meanwhile, health officials are hopeful that Illinois might
avoid an expected surge of COVID-19 cases stemming from people
traveling and interacting over Thanksgiving.
Only two of the state’s 11 regions have experienced a “tiny
increase” in cases, said Ezike, referencing data from a seven-day
stretch that ended Saturday.
“We haven’t seen something significant to talk about now,”
she said. “We’ll keep our fingers crossed.”
On Monday, a total of 7,214 new cases and 103 deaths were
reported in Illinois.
The new cases came from a batch of 92,256 tests performed in the
previous 24 hours.
The state’s seven-day positivity rate for cases from Dec. 7 to
Dec. 13 decreased slightly to 8.7% from 9.1%.
As of Sunday night, 4,951 people who tested positive for
COVID-19 were reported to be in the hospital. Of that number, 1,070
patients were in intensive care and 621 patients were on
ventilators.
