The hospital was chosen because of the care it has provided communities hardest hit by the virus.
Late Monday night, Mayor Lori Lightfoot tweeted photos of the vaccine’s arrival in the city. Those doses will be distribute to Chicago’s 34 hospitals, including Loretto in the Austin neighborhood, where the COVID-19 death rate is more than 60 percent higher than the citywide average.
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Officials said the first shots in Illinois will be given to healthcare workers.
Loretto will be first hospital in the city at 10:30 a.m. to begin inoculating its staff. Mayor Lori Lightfoot spoke about the historic roll-out on MSNBC Monday night.
“We see the light at the end of the tunnel, but we’re not out of the tunnel yet,” Lightfoot said.
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Because of the Pfizer vaccine’s ultra-cold storage requirement and limited time between thawing and injection, hospitals have carefully crafted rollout plans… intended to prevent waste and any disruptions in patient care.
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You have to think about the potential for those side effects, so maybe you wouldn’t take everybody on your COVID floor and do them all at that same time,” said Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike.
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