Phase 1B Of Illinois' COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Plan Revealed

CHICAGO — In a departure from federal recommendations, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced everyone aged 65 and up will be eligible to receive a coronavirus vaccine in the second phase of the state's distribution plan.

The first priority group, Phase 1a, has been limited to health care workers and residents and staff of long-term care facilities. Pritzker said Wednesday about a third of health care workers have been vaccinated so far, and a federally backed program to administer vaccinations at nursing homes began Dec. 28.

The next phase, Phase 1b, will begin once the state has "substantially completed" the first one, which Pritzker said would take several weeks at least.

Statewide, Illinois had administered about 207,000 vaccine doses as of Tuesday night, including the first group of second doses, Pritzker said. There are approximately 850,000 people in Phase 1a and 3.2 million in Phase 2b, according to estimates from state officials. The governor said Illinois is currently allocated about 120,000 doses of vaccine every week.

"Up to now this vaccine has only been offered to a very specific group of people at very specific locations in staggered proportions, because hospitals and nursing homes have been concerned about too many of their staff receiving the vaccine on any given shift," Pritzker said. "Because of this and because of the early federal supply issues, so far approximately one third of our health care workforce outside of Chicago has received the vaccine."

The Phase 1b guidelines the governor announced Tuesday depart from the recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, which recommended doses be initially limited to those aged 75 and over. The expert panel's guidance is non-binding, and individual states have been left to devise their own vaccination schemes with doses allocated.

"I believe strongly that we ought to protect more of our seniors, earlier, than ACIP has recommended," Pritzker said.

The second phase also includes front-line essential workers. As defined by the federal government, that includes police public safety workers, teachers and school staff, manufacturing, agriculture and grocery store workers, public transmit, postal and correctional officers. It also includes incarcerated people, according to the governor's office.

Pritzker said the front-line distinction among essential workers is "focused on those individuals who carry a higher risk of COVID-19 exposure, in large part because their work duties can't be performed remotely."

The governor said he has instructed his administration to use every available state resource to implement a massive logistics effort to get the vaccine out to as many people as possible as quickly as possible. He said the National Guard would be involved in setting up mass vaccination sites across the state and more providers would be registered to administer vaccines.

Pritzker cited data showing the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Latino and Black populations. In Illinois, the average age of coronavirus deaths is 81 for white residents, 72 for Black residents and 68 for Latino residents.

"Our goal is to expand vaccination infrastructure right now, including especially in communities that have been disproportionately impacted, to move these vaccines through our state at an even faster pace as we see an increase in federal deliveries," Pritzker said.

Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said state public health officials are working to fairly distribute a limited supply of vaccine.

"We are working with providers to get what vaccine we do have into the arms of Illinoisans as quickly as possible," Ezike said. "But we also need to get it into the arms as safely as possible and as equitably as possible."

According to the CDC, only 35 percent of the vaccines distributed to Illinois have been administered — putting Illinois into a tie for 22nd among states when it comes to getting vaccines into people's arms after being delivered. According to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the city has already distributed more than 95 percent of the doses it has received.

Pritzker noted that it can take up to 72 hours after being administered for jabs to be reported to the CDC.

"It's a little hard to say exactly where we are. I will tell you, though, among the top 10 most populous states in the United States, we are doing very, very well. The folks who have widespread distribution and administration challenges in the big states, we are really competing quite well, if you want to look at it that way, and getting vaccines out in a relatively quick fashion," Pritzker said.

"I want to do even better, that's why we're going to have the National Guard brought in, that's why we're going to open up so many other locations," he added. "I consider this a race to get vaccines in people's arms as fast as possible."