Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Friday that the state will begin its next phase of vaccinations against the coronavirus later this month, moving forward with vaccinating residents age 65 and older.
Phase 1B of the state's vaccination plan will begin on Jan. 25, Pritzker announced in a COVID-19 briefing.
Phase 1B will center on residents age 65 years and older and "frontline essential workers," including first responders, education workers like teachers and support staff, childcare workers, grocery store employees, postal service workers, and more.
The age requirement in Illinois is 10 years lower than the recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, "in order to reduce COVID-19 mortality and limit community spread in Black and Brown communities," the governor said.
Phase 1B will include roughly 3.2 million Illinois residents, according to the state.
Here's a look at who will be included in Phase 1B:
- Residents age 65 and over
- Frontline essential workers, which means "residents who carry a higher risk of COVID-19 exposure because of their work duties, often because they are unable to work from home, and/or they must work closely to others without being able to socially distance. This includes:
- First responders: Fire, law enforcement, 911 workers, security personnel, school officers
- Education: Teachers, principals, student support, student aids, day care worker
- Food and agriculture: Processing, plants, veterinary health, livestock services, animal care
- Manufacturing: Industrial production of good for distribution to retail, wholesale or other manufactures
- Corrections workers and inmates: Jail officers, juvenile facility staff, workers providing in-person support, inmates
- USPS workers
- Public transit workers: Flight crew, bus drivers, train conductors, taxi drivers, para-transit drivers, in-person support, ride sharing services
- Grocery store workers: Baggers, cashiers, stockers, pickup, customer service
- Shelters and day care staff: Homeless shelter, women’s shelter, adult day/drop-in program, sheltered workshop, psycho-social rehab
Pritzker said beginning next week, the state will be standing up "hundreds of vaccination sites across the state, including retail pharmacy chains, Illinois National Guard mobile teams, state-run mass vaccination locations in northern, central and southern Illinois, hospitals and urgent care locations, and ultimately, doctors’ offices and large employers who can host their own workplace clinics"
Local
The Illinois National Guard will be activated to assist local health departments in expanding vaccination clinics, Pritzker said, with the first two teams deploying to Cook County Health Department sites.
Beginning on Jan. 25, the National Guard-led sites will begin vaccinating residents eligible under Phase 1B, as well as sites at CVS, Jewel Osco and Walgreens, Pritzker said.
All of those vaccination sites will be appointment only, Pritzker said, asking residents not to line up at the store or to call their local pharmacies. He said that before Phase 1B begins, the state will launch the Illinois’ COVID-19 Vaccination Administration Plan website to give residents information on finding a nearby vaccination site and how to make an appointment.
As of Thursday, 995,000 doses of the vaccine had been delivered to providers and long-term care facilities across the state, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. A total of 447,348 of those doses had been administered statewide since vaccinations of predominantly health care workers began last month.
