The vaccination update can be viewed live in the video player above.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the city’s top doctor will provide an update on the city’s coronavirus vaccination plan Monday, according to Lightfoot’s public schedule.
Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Lightfoot and Chicago Department of Health, will deliver the update at a press conference Monday at 2:00 pm at the Esperanza Health Center, located at 4700 S. California Ave., according to the mayor’s office.
Arwady announced last week that Phase 1A of COVID-19 vaccinations could last for part of February.
During a briefing on the coronavirus, she said the first groups will likely vaccinate until mid-February. Arwady added that for some they will not have received the first dose of the two until the city starts vaccinating other populations.
“So while we are in phase 1A, which is again December, January and February, the focus is on health professionals and residents of long-term care facilities,” Arwady said. “We will begin to stand up, as I called some of these larger issue points, to ensure that all health workers can be vaccinated.”
Arwady said the city will set up its first mass vaccination site next week, allowing health workers to be vaccinated more quickly.
US surgeon General Jerome Adams, who visited Illinois on Tuesday to investigate the state’s introduction of vaccines, said he hopes to have half the adult population nationwide vaccinated by the end of February.
Based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health professionals and residents of long-term care facilities belong to the 1A group, or the first people to receive the statewide COVID-19 vaccine.
According to the Illinois Department of Public Health website, the following groups of individuals will be prioritized in the early stages of the vaccine rollout:
- Healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities
- Essential frontline workers, including first responders
- People at high risk of medical conditions, as well as adults over the age of 65
So far Chicago has only vaccinated health workers, but the vaccine has been sent to all 35 hospitals in the city. Arwady said the health department will begin vaccinating at long-term care facilities on Monday.