Chicago’s top health official said the first coronavirus vaccinations Tuesday marked “the beginning of what will be the end of COVID-19” in the city, but warned the public that it will be some time before the pandemic is over.
Five health workers were the first people in Chicago to be vaccinated Tuesday at Loretto Hospital on the west side of the city, in an instant the mayor called “ history in the making. ”
Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, celebrated progress in the fight against the pandemic that has now claimed more than 300,000 lives nationwide – but noted that she believed it would probably be about another year before the coronavirus ” in the rear-view mirror “.
“There is nothing I wanted more for Christmas than a vaccine that looked like this,” said Arwady. She went on to highlight the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s evaluation process for Pfizer’s first vaccine, which was approved for emergency use last week, noting that she was “ very confident that there were no steps in the safety process for it. have skipped approving a vaccine. “
Both Arwady and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot praised the arrival of the vaccine in the city the day before, though Lightfoot noted that “widespread community distribution of the vaccine is still months away.”
Arwady said the city expected to receive 23,400 doses of the vaccine this week and expected additional doses to come in the next few days and continue for the next several weeks. She also noted that the FDA was scheduled to review Moderna’s vaccine in a few days, and said she hoped approval of the second vaccine would take less than a week.
When it comes to who gets the vaccine first, health officials from Chicago and Illinois have long said they would follow federal public health guidelines to vaccinate health workers first on the front lines of fighting the pandemic. The city has said there are about 400,000 health workers in the city, including doctors, nurses and other hospital personnel.
“We will be expanding soon, just in a few weeks, to long-term care facilities, both staff and residents there,” Arwady said. “Then we expect that by the end of the year, at the end of December or the beginning of January, we will also move to the area of ambulatory care providers.”
Following primary health workers and residents and staff of long-term care facilities, the city says priority will be given to workers in critical and critical industries, including emergency services personnel, those at high risk of serious COVID-19 disease due to underlying medical disorders and people aged 65 and older.
“But it will take several months for a vaccine to be widely available,” Arwady noted, adding, “You will find that all these people who have been vaccinated have not taken off their masks, nor will they take off their masks. first everyone needs a second dose of the vaccine which comes in three weeks and even after that we will learn a lot about the vaccine. “
“We are going to wear our masks and have been doing our social distance for months as we continue to roll out this vaccine. But this, I fully believe, is the beginning of what will be the end of COVID-19 here in Chicago.” Arwady continued.
“We’ve been on this for almost a year now and I think we’ll probably be on it for another year by the time we really get to the point where this is in the rearview mirror,” she added. “But it is within our power to control this virus. You know what things work – please keep doing them.”
Lightfoot expressed a similar sentiment in her comments on the first vaccinations.
“Although we can see light at the end of the tunnel, we are still in the tunnel,” said Lightfoot. “We still have places in our city where this terrible virus is plaguing the body, mind and soul of so many.”
“We will unfortunately stay here for months,” continued Lightfoot. ‘We cannot let our guard down. We must remain diligent and responsible for the things we know protect us. Wearing masks saves lives. ‘
Government JB Pritzker said the first shipment of the Pfizers vaccine arrived in Illinois Monday, containing 43,000 doses now being processed to go to hospitals across the state.
Chicago was one of five local health departments to receive direct shipments independent of the state. The four others are: Cook County Department of Public Health, Lake County Health Department and Community Health Center, Madison County Health Department, and St. Clair County Health Department.
Together, the six shipments account for the “expected allocation” of 100,000 doses by the state, the Pritzker office said. Officials previously estimated that the state would receive 109,000 doses, while Chicago would receive 23,000 and 86,000 across the rest of the state.
The first vaccinations conducted under state jurisdiction, under the supervision of Pritzker and Illinois Department of Public Health, were performed Tuesday at 11:00 am to health workers at OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria.
The Pfizer vaccine requires two injections three weeks apart.
Earlier this month, health officials from Pritzker and Illinois detailed the state’s vaccination plan, noting that it follows federal guidelines by first distributing it to health care providers and nursing home residents in accordance with federal public health guidelines.
“The first-ever vaccinations will be dedicated to hospitals and health workers in the 50 counties with the highest per capita death rates,” Pritzker said at his daily COVID-19 briefing in Chicago on Dec. 4. “A few quick calculations will tell you that it will take several weeks of distribution to give our caregivers even the first of the two doses they need, while also reaching the residents of the long-term care facility.”
According to Pritzker, each county has its own plan for how the vaccine will be distributed, with the governor pointing out that cities like Chicago and more rural communities will have different strategies to ensure the vaccine is distributed as fairly as possible. .
The Illinois public health director said Friday that all 10 state “ regional hub ” hospitals will receive doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to distribute by week one.
Once the doses come in, IDPH director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said the state will pull out all the stops in an “All-In Illinois” effort to ensure the vaccine is delivered as quickly and efficiently as possible.
“People go to the doctor’s office. Massive vaccination trips will be held. Some in churches, pharmacies, local health departments, ”she said. There will be countless options for getting the vaccine. We want some drive-thru vaccination efforts too. Those will continue to increase as it becomes generally available to the public. “