The vaccination update can be watched live in the video player above.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the city’s top doctor will provide an update on the coronavirus vaccination plan on Monday, according to Lightfoot’s public program.
Lightfoot and Chicago Commissioner of the Department of Public Health Dr. Allison Arwady will deliver the update during a news conference Monday at 2:00 p.m. at the Esperanza Health Center at 4700 S. California Ave. on the mayor’s office .
Arwady announced last week that phase 1A of COVID-19 vaccinations could last until part of February.
During a briefing on coronavirus, she said that the initial groups will probably take until mid-February to vaccinate. Arwady added that for some, they will receive the first dose of the two before the city starts vaccinating other populations.
“While we’re in Phase 1A, which is again December, January, and February, the focus is on health care workers and long-term care residents,” Arwady said. “We will start to stand up, as we mentioned some of these larger points of administration, to make sure that all health care workers can be vaccinated.”
Arwady said the city will launch the first mass vaccination site next week, which will allow health workers to be vaccinated faster.
U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who visited Illinois on Tuesday to consider launching the vaccine in the state, said he hopes to have vaccinated half of the adult population nationwide by the end of February.
Based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities are in Group 1A or the first people to receive the state-wide COVID-19 vaccine.
According to the Illinois Department of Public Health website, the following phases of people will be a priority in the early stages of vaccine launch:
- Healthcare staff and residents of long-term care institutions
- Essential front-line workers, including those who receive an answer
- People with high-risk medical conditions, as well as adults over the age of 65
So far, Chicago has only vaccinated health care workers, but they have sent the vaccine to all 35 hospitals in the city. Arwady said the health department will begin vaccinating at long-term care units on Monday.