Illinois on Monday received its first shipments of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine approved for emergency use late last week by federal regulators.
The state received about 43,000 doses of the vaccine at its outpost of the Strategic National Stockpile, according to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office. The state is not disclosing the outpost’s location for security reasons.
The city of Chicago received its own shipment of the vaccine Monday, the state said.
Together with direct shipments expected from the federal government to health departments in Cook, Lake, Madison and St. Clair counties in coming days, roughly 109,000 doses are expected to arrive in the state this week, with hundreds of thousands more doses arriving in the coming weeks.
The state’s initial doses of the vaccine are reserved for health care workers in 50 counties that have seen the highest per capita death rates from COVID-19.
The state’s share of vaccine doses will go to 10 regional medical centers for distribution to local health departments in those areas.
“Today marks a momentous occasion – not just this year, but in American history,” Pritzker said at his daily coronavirus briefing. “Eleven months after scientists the world over first got their hands on the genetic sequence of this virus — and we are seeing the beginning of the end of this pandemic.”
While health care workers in states including New York, Ohio and neighboring Wisconsin were beginning to be vaccinated Monday, the first dose in Illinois is expected to be administered on Tuesday.
Pritzker said at his daily coronavirus briefing that some hospitals in other states got shipments directly from the federal government, whereas in Illinois the vaccine is going through the state, the city of Chicago and the public health departments of Cook, Lake Madison and St. Clair counties.
The governor declined to give specifics on when the doses of the vaccine would arrive at the regional medical centers for distribution to health departments in the selected counties.
“I don’t want to talk about the specifics of timing because I want to make sure that we’ve got full security associated with the delivery,” Pritzker said.
The Loretto Hospital, a 122-bed medical facility in the Austin community, will administer Chicago’s ceremonial first COVID-19 vaccination Tuesday, sources told the Tribune.
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said the state is working closely with hospitals across the state to make sure they track each dose from the time it arrives until it is injected into a patient’s arm.
Those administering the vaccine “will log every single dose that’s given and give all the information on every recipient: name, address, date of birth, ethnicity data,” Ezike said. “All of that information has to be put in for every single person within 24 hours and uploaded into our system.”
That information will allow the state to see who has been vaccinated and where more outreach efforts might be needed to encourage more eligible people to participate, she said.
Hospitals also are being encouraged to stagger who receives the vaccine to make sure there aren’t staff shortages in key areas if people who’ve received the shot need to take time off due to known side effects, such as headache and fatigue, Ezike said.
The vaccine’s arrival in Illinois is welcome news, but state officials are continuing to preach patience to the public, most of whom are months away from being able to get vaccinated.
“I definitely look forward to the day when the vaccine is widely available to every single person in the state,” Ezike said. “Until that time, we still need to continue with our masking, avoiding crowds, watching our distance and washing our hands.”
The state is still awaiting further guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on who should be included in the next round of vaccinations, including who would qualify as an essential worker.
A federal Food and Drug Administration advisory panel could grant emergency use authorization Thursday to a second coronavirus vaccine, developed by Moderna. When the Pfizer vaccine received the panel’s approval last week, the FDA authorized it the next day.
If the Moderna vaccine follows a similar timeline, the first shipment could arrive in Illinois next week.
At that point, the state would begin setting aside a portion of its shipments for residents of long-term care facilities, who will be vaccinated through a federal program being run by CVS and Deerfield-based Walgreens, Pritzker said.
The much-anticipated vaccine arrived as Illinois reported 7,214 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, the lowest daily total since Nov. 30, when there were 6,190 cases reported following Thanksgiving weekend. The state has averaged 8,551 new cases per day over the past week, the lowest seven-day average since the week ending Nov. 7.
There have been 856,118 known cases statewide since the start of the pandemic.
The share of coronavirus cases out of all tests also continues to decline on a seven-day average. The statewide case positivity rate reached an average of 8.7% for the week ending Sunday, the lowest it’s been since Nov. 3.
But the number of coronavirus deaths in the state remains high, even compared with the first wave of the pandemic in the spring.
The state recorded 103 fatalities Monday, marking seven straight days with more than 100 deaths for an average of 150 casualties per day over that period. In all, Illinois has seen 14,394 deaths related to COVID-19 since March.
On Monday, the United States surpassed 300,000 total coronavirus deaths.
dpetrella@chicagotribune.com
jmunks@chicagotribune.com
