NOTE: A live stream of the 2 p.m. press conference with U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike and Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady will appear live in the player above.
U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams is scheduled to visit Chicago Tuesday and discuss the city and state's plans for vaccine rollout and witness vaccinations at a city hospital.
Adams is scheduled to stop at Saint Anthony's Hospital during the morning hours with the city's and state's top doctors, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike and Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady.
Adams, Ezike and Arwady are expected to address the media at 2 p.m. from the James R. Thompson Center. (Watch it live in the player above)
Illinois plans to receive its first shipments of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine as well as additional doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week, state officials said Monday.
Last week, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker expressed concern about reduced shipments of the Pfizer vaccine, saying that the state had been informed the federal government was anticipating a reduction of nearly 50% in the number of doses it was able to deliver to states in the following two weeks.
Army General Gustave Perna, the COO of Operation Warp Speed, said officials were working hard to provide accurate numbers to states, but that he was forced to lower allocations of the vaccine because of limits in the amount of “releasable doses."
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As of Monday, more than 63,000 Illinoisans had received the first doses of the vaccine, according to a spokesperson for Pritzker. The provided number does not include vaccinations in the city of Chicago.
Unlike the first doses of Pfizer's vaccine, which were sent to Illinois' Strategic National Stockpile and then distributed to hospitals, the doses expected in the coming days will be directly shipped to hospitals.
Approximately 60,450 doses of the Pfizer vaccine are slated to be delivered Tuesday and Wednesday, the governor's office stated. A large portion of the aforementioned doses will be allocated to long-term care facilities, and will be administered by Walgreens and CVS through a federal partnership.
Those vaccinations will begin the week of Dec. 28, state officials said.
The remaning 20,000 doses will be directly shipped to hospitals with ultra-cold storage, which is necessary for the Pfizer vaccine, and will be given to health care workers.
Approximately 174,000 doses of Moderna's vaccine are expected to be delivered to hospitals on a rolling basis starting Wednesday and Thursday.
On the same day as Adams' visit Tuesday, hundreds of essential workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic in Cook County also plan to strike.
SEIU Local 73 - the union representing Cook County health technicians, service and maintenance workers, as well as employees of the clerk’s office and sheriff’s office - said in a statement Friday that its members would be holding a one-day strike, alleging that county officials have "refused to set bargaining dates… and walked out on negotiations" for nearly three months.
“Our members have put their lives on the line to keep Cook County functioning,” SEIU Local 73 President Dian Palmer said. “The complete lack of respect by Toni Preckwinkle and the managers under her supervision is shocking."
The workers include employees who work at Stroger Hospital as well as Cermak and Provident hospitals that are part of the Cook County Health System.
