Healthcare providers can start giving coronavirus vaccines to people over 65 who live or work in Chicago starting Monday in an amended next phase of the city’s vaccination plan.
Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, announced the shift last week alongside Mayor Lori Lightfoot at a news conference of a new mass vaccination site.
Hospitals and outpatient clinics enrolled as COVID-19 vaccine providers are mandated to continue to prioritize health workers, particularly Phase 1A non-hospital health workers, according to the city’s updated vaccination plan.
But starting Monday, if healthcare providers have doses of the vaccine available and no healthcare providers have scheduled for vaccination, they can move to a new phase 1B that will allow people over 65 to receive the vaccine.
Priority will be given to those over the age of 75 or those over the age of 65 with significant underlying conditions, Arwady said.
Officials also announced last week that the city will open six additional Points of Dispensing (PODs) vaccination centers, but noted that those locations will continue to target Phase 1A health workers only, by appointment only.
Arwady noted that those who qualify, namely people over 65, for vaccinations in this next modified phase will not need to register anywhere and that healthcare providers will administer the vaccines in the first place.
“I don’t want to give people the impression that they can still sign up for an appointment,” Arwady said, but added that that option would be available “very soon.”
While the move isn’t the full Phase 1B initially planned for the city, it comes on the heels of a request from federal officials who this week asked states to see people 65 and older and those under 65 with underlying health conditions. vaccinate. high risk.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker also announced last week that the state will begin the next phase of vaccinations, also known as Phase 1B, on Jan. 25.
Phase 1B will focus on residents 65 and older and “frontline essential workers”, including first responders, educators such as teachers and support staff, childcare workers, supermarket workers, mail carriers and more.
Phase 1B will encompass approximately 3.2 million Illinois residents, according to the state.
Here’s an overview of who will be included in Phase 1B:
- Residents aged 65 and over
- Primary care workers, meaning “residents who are at higher risk for COVID-19 exposure because of their work duties, often because they cannot work from home, and / or they must work closely with others without being able to distance themselves socially. contains:
- First responders: Fire brigade, police, emergency number, security personnel, school officers
- Education: Teachers, principals, student support, student resources, childcare
- Food and agriculture: Processing, plants, veterinary health, animal husbandry, animal care
- Manufacturing: Industrial production of goods for distribution to retailers, wholesalers or other manufacturers
- Corrections workers and prisoners: Prison workers, juvenile detention center staff, personal support workers, detainees
- USPS employees
- Public transport employees: Flight crew, bus drivers, train drivers, taxi drivers, para-transit drivers, personal support, ride sharing services
- Supermarket employees: Baggers, cashiers, stockholders, takeout, customer service
- Shelters and nursery: Homeless shelter, women’s shelter, adult day / walk-in program, sheltered workshop, psychosocial rehab
Pritzker said beginning Friday that this week the state will “step up” hundreds of vaccination sites across the state, including pharmacy chains, Illinois National Guard mobile teams, massive state vaccination sites in northern, central and southern Illinois, hospitals, and care locations, and eventually doctors’ offices and large employers who can host their own work clinics “
The Illinois National Guard will be activated to help local health departments expand vaccination clinics, Pritzker said, with the first two teams going to Cook County Health Department locations.
Starting Jan. 25, the National Guard-led sites will begin to vaccinate residents eligible for Phase 1B, as will sites at CVS, Jewel Osco and Walgreens, Pritzker said.
All of those vaccination sites are by appointment only, Pritzker said, asking residents not to queue or call their local pharmacy. He said that before Phase 1B begins, the state will launch the Illinois’ COVID-19 Vaccination Administration Plan website to provide residents with information on how to find a nearby vaccination site and how to make an appointment.