IL Vaccine Plan: What You Need To Know

ACROSS ILLINOIS — The first doses of a coronavirus vaccine could be doled out in just days in Illinois, state officials said. During a news conference last week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker shared the state’s plan for distributing vaccines, which will go first to front-line healthcare workers and residents of long-term-care facilities.

The Food and Drug Administration is set to review the Pfizer vaccine on Dec. 10 and a vaccine by Moderna on Dec. 17. If the Pfizer vaccine gets the green light, the first 109,000 doses allocated to Illinois could be doled out starting the week of Dec. 13, Pritzker said.

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From there, distribution of the Moderna vaccine, if approved, could begin the week of Christmas. Both vaccines require two doses and, as more vaccines are approved, the state is expected to get a larger allocation to distribute.

But still, it's going to be a long process.

“It’s going to take multiple weeks of distribution to get our health-care workers their first of two doses they require while also getting to our long-term care residents,” Pritzker said. There are 654,598 front-line health-care workers and 109,227 residents in long-term care facilities in Illinois.

State health officials are following guidance provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and approved by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices regarding who should get the vaccine and when. On Tuesday, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to make the first priority group health care workers and long-term care facility residents.

Front-line essential workers including first responders, those older than 65 years old and people with multiple comorbidities and serious illness could be next up. This group will be “much larger” than the first and distribution could take “many months,” Pritzker said.

From there, there is talk of allocating shots to Hispanic and Black populations as well as other ethnicities that have been at a higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 symptoms or dying from the virus, Pritzker said, adding that the death toll for those communities has been disproportionately high.

How Will It Be Distributed?

The initial shipment of vaccines will be received by the Illinois Department of Public Health from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The state has purchased 20 “ultra-cold freezers” to safely store the Pfizer vaccine, which needs to be kept at -94 degrees Fahrenheit, Pritzker said. The first vaccines will be dedicated to hospitals and health care workers in the 50 counties in Illinois with the highest death rates per capita, Pritzker said Friday.

Those vaccines will be stored at 10 hospitals that will serve as regional hospital coordinating centers. The City of Chicago, which makes up 21 percent of the state’s population, will get 21 percent of the initial vaccines sent: an estimated 23,000. The rest of the state will receive the remaining 86,000.

Here is a look at the number of vaccines that will be sent to regional hospital coordinating centers:

1. Northshore -Highland Park Hospital: 27,300 doses
2. Loyola University Medical Center: 16,575 doses
3. Advocate Christ Hospital and Medical Center: 8,775 doses
4. Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin: 7,800 doses
5. Memorial Hospital, Bellville in Belleville: 6,825 doses
6. OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria: 5,850 doses
7. Rockford Memorial Hospital in Rockford: 4,875 doses
8. Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana: 3,900 doses
9. SIH Memorial Hospital of Carbondale in Carbondale: 2,925 doses
10. St. John's Hospital in Springfield: 1,950 doses

From there, health departments in counties across the state will be tasked with working with the hospitals to get the vaccines out locally. All health departments were required to submit a plan to the state regarding how they will handle distribution, Pritzker said.

In addition, CVS and Walgreens has offered to send its staff into long-term care facilities to assist with vaccinations, Pritzker said. Most long-term facilities across the state have signed up for this option.

Pritzker, who said he'd receive the vaccination publicly when it's his turn, touted the success of these pharmaceutical companies for the speedy turnaround of a vaccine. He also said the vaccines have been shown to be safe and effective.

"The prayer to have vaccines in short order seems to have been answered," he said.

Trials so far for the Pfizer vaccine has shown it to be 95 percent effective across its 43,000 drug trial participants. The vaccine requires two doses three weeks apart.

Moderna has had 30,000 trial participants and said its vaccine is 94 percent effective. The vaccine requires two doses, four weeks apart. Unlike the Pfizer vaccine, which needs to be stored at extremely cold temps, the Moderna vaccine can be kept in a standard freezer for up to six months and can be refrigerated for 30 days. In addition, it can be left at room temperature for 12 hours.

Those who receive a Pfizer vaccine for their first dose must also get the Pfizer shot for their second dose; the same goes for Moderna, which requires both doses to be Moderna vaccines.

Meanwhile, healthy adults should expect to wait several months before they get their first dose of either vaccines.

"No single person will be fully vaccinated even by Christmas and it will likely be months before people with low risk factors for COVID-19 even see their first dose," Pritzker said.

In addition, the vaccines have not yet been approved for those under the age of 18 years old, Illinois public health director Ngozi Ezike said Friday.

It's also not clear if pregnant women can get the vaccine. "We're waiting for data" on that, she said.

And there is also uncertainty over when someone who recovered from COVID-19 should get their shot — so far, there's an indication if you've had the virus in the past three months, you wouldn't immediately need the vaccine and would have to wait to be vaccinated, she said.

In a call with Illinois mayors on Thursday, Ezike said 80 percent of vaccinations would occur over the summer. While the state will initially only receive just under 110,000 doses, more will be coming in the following weeks:

• First batch of 109,000 doses — 23,000 doses will go to Chicago; the rest will go to other parts of the state
• The following week: 250,000 doses
• Third week: 300,000 doses

Ezike said it could take up to four months to vaccinate two priority groups: 1A, or health care and nursing home workers, and 1B, defined as first responders, public works and supply chain workers.

The next group to get vaccinated — 1C — has yet to be determined but will likely include senior citizens and those with comorbidities.

The first COVID-19 virus vaccines from Pfizer recently arrived at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Pfizer's vaccine was just approved in the United Kingdom and is up for emergency use authorization in the United States next week — Cambridge-based Moderna's vaccine is hoping for the same the following week.

In a call with Illinois mayors on Thursday, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said vaccine approval is expected next Friday, with the following expected rollout schedule:

• First batch of 110,000 doses — 24,000 doses will go to Chicago; the rest will go to other parts of the state
• The following week: 250,000 doses
• Third week: 300,000 doses

Ezike said it could take up to four months to vaccinate two priority groups: 1A, or health care and nursing home workers, and 1B, defined as first responders, public works and supply chain workers.

The next group to get vaccinated — 1C — has yet to be determined but will likely include senior citizens and those with comorbidities.

The first COVID-19 virus vaccines from Pfizer recently arrived at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Pfizer's vaccine was just approved in the United Kingdom and is up for emergency use authorization in the United States next week — Cambridge-based Moderna's vaccine is hoping for the same the following week.

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