The hospital was chosen for the care it has provided to communities most affected by the virus.
Late Monday evening, Mayor Lori Lightfoot tweeted photos of the vaccine’s arrival in town. Those doses will be distributed among Chicago’s 34 hospitals, including Loretto in Austin, where the death rate from COVID-19 is more than 60 percent higher than the city-wide average.
CHICAGOLAN VACCINE GUIDE: See COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Plans for Your Area
Officials said the first shots will be given to health workers in Illinois.
Loretto will be the first hospital in town to vaccinate staff at 10:30 am. Mayor Lori Lightfoot spoke on MSNBC Monday evening about the historic rollout.
“We see the light at the end of the tunnel, but we are not out of the tunnel yet,” said Lightfoot.
5 Top Questions About Pfizer’s Coronavirus Shot, Answered
Due to the ultra-cold storage requirements of the Pfizer vaccine and the limited time between thawing and injection, hospitals have carefully crafted rollout plans … designed to avoid wastage and potential disruptions in patient care.
Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine: What Are the Side Effects? Who will get it first? This is what we know
You have to think about the possibility of those side effects, so maybe you wouldn’t take everyone on your COVID floor and do them all at once, ”said Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Copyright © 2020 WLS-TV. All rights reserved.