Illinois has vaccinated over 100,000 people and Moderna vaccines are now arriving.
Over 1 million people have now been vaccinated across the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Illinois, more than 100,000 people had received the COVID-19 vaccine in the first week of the mass vaccination effort said Governor J.B. Pritzker in Tuesday’s Illinois news briefing. The numbers mean that Illinois, at the time of speaking, has vaccinated more people than any other state, even more than larger states with higher populations and more doses of the vaccine.
JUST IN: Chicago and Illinois have administered more than 100,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, @GovPritzker announces. That's more than California or Texas, which have many more people. @wttw
— Heather Cherone (@HeatherCherone) December 23, 2020
Shipments of the vaccine will continue to arrive and be distributed to all corners of Illinois. According to Pritzker, this week every single one of the 102 counties in Illinois will have received substantial doses of the vaccine.
‘That’s it?’ Moderna vaccine debuts at Lovell Health Care Center in North Chicago https://t.co/tumSRV0iD2
— Lake County News-Sun (@newssun) December 23, 2020
After receiving the thumbs up from the United States Food and Drug Administration last Friday, an Illinois panel unanimously endorsed the Moderna vaccine and Moderna shipments have now also begun arriving in Illinois. Frontline staff received the first Chicago Moderna vaccination at Lovell Health Care Center in North Chicago this week. Illinois is set for 174,600 doses of the Moderna vaccine alone by Thursday, while Chicago will receive roughly 48,000 of its own. Unlike Pfizer’s vaccine, the Moderna vaccine does not have to be kept in ultra-cold storage and provides a huge boost to the vaccination effort.
A further 23,400 doses of the Pfizer vaccine will also arrive in Illinois this week, while the city of Chicago will get its own shipment of 15,600 doses. Over 37,000 Pfizer doses will also go to long-term care facilities outside of Chicago courtesy of a federal program that is being administered by Walgreens and CVS. According to city data, over 16,000 people in Chicago have now received a Covid-19 vaccine.
Here's an update on our vaccination distribution process. Last Friday, the @US_FDA authorized the @moderna_tx COVID-19 vaccine. And our own Illinois independent review panel evaluated both the @moderna_tx and @pfizer vaccine, unanimously endorsing the @CDCgov recommendations.
— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) December 23, 2020
Additional guidance on priority recipients of Covid-19 vaccines was issued Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over the weekend. After health care workers and long-term care facility residents have been immunized the CDC suggests that people aged 75 and older and “front line essential workers” including corrections workers, first responders, and U.S. Postal Service workers should be next in line for vaccine distribution.
You can see Governor J.B. Pritzker’s virtual Wednesday news conference here:
Governor Pritzker gives a COVID-19 update. https://t.co/pjesZUZMx2
— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) December 23, 2020