Pritzker: Illinois could get vaccine in December, healthcare workers to receive first shots

CHICAGO, Ill. (WTVO) — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Tuesday that the first coronavirus vaccine is expected to arrive in the state mid-December, and healthcare workers would be the first to get it.

Pritzker says there is hope that work on finalizing approval for the first coronavirus vaccine will be done in the next few days.

In advance of FDA approval, vaccines are on the way, Pritzker said, and are coming to Illinois in the middle of December. All of the first shipment of approximately 109,000 doses will go to healthcare workers because of the limited supply, he said.

Each person will need to take 2 doses, several months apart, of the Pfizer vaccine, meaning the state will only receive enough of the vaccine for 54,000 residents.

Pritzker warned that although he has been told Illinois will receive that number of vaccines in the first wave, “we are at the whim of the FDA, CDC and federal government.”

The second priority will be residents of long-care health facilities. The vaccines have not been approved for children yet, he said.

The Governor also said there are no mandates in place which would require every Illinoisian to receive the vaccine, but he said that is “something that is always in discussion.”

MORE HEADLINES: