The first shipment of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Illinois on Monday with thousands of doses scheduled to go out to hospitals around the state.
The first of many freezer-packed COVID-19 vaccine vials made their way to distribution sites across the country Sunday, as the nation approached 300,000 deaths since the pandemic began. In Illinois, more than 14,000 people have died of COVID-19-related illnesses.
During his daily briefing, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he was on hand when the first shipment of doses arrived.
“The people who were there, the troopers, the logistics managers, the folks who were unpacking and packing all the boxes, they all recognized as I do is that this is history in the making,” Pritzker said.
Representing about half of the state’s allotment of 109,000 doses, Pritzker said the shipment will be divided up and delivered to health departments and hospitals this week. Federal officials said the first shipments will be staggered, arriving in 145 distribution centers Monday, another 425 sites getting shipments Tuesday, and the remaining 66 on Wednesday.
The Food and Drug Administration is expected to meet Thursday to review a vaccine produced by Moderna.
While Pritzker and the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, had warned of a post-Thanksgiving surge in new COVID-19 cases, that has not yet materialized. The statewide positivity rate has declined to 8.7%, and most regions of the state continue to see flat or declining test positivity rates as well.
Ezike and Pritzker said the continue to watch statewide COVID-19 metrics for surge in cases following the holiday.
