Chicago's Loretto Hospital Vaccinates First Patients In The City Against COVID: 'It Actually Hurts Less Than The Flu Shot'
CHICAGO (CBS) --After months on the front lines, Chicago Doctor Marina Del Rios was first in line for the COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday.
CBS 2's Chris Tye reports from Loretto Hospital.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called it Vaccine Day in Chicago and a moment of hope, as the first of the medical front line workers gets shots.
At 10: 42 a.m, with the vaccine thawed and arms swabbed, UIC emergency room doctor Marina Del Rios became the first Chicagoan vaccinated against COVID-19.
"As we say in Spanish, we mend the heart through guts," Del Rios said.
It was just three days ago, while putting up Christmas decorations, that she learned she would be first.
"Latino physicians are unicorns. There's not many of us," she said. And she thinks it's partly why she was selected, sending a strong message to a community where some may be reluctant to get vaccinated.
"It was probably a strategic decision to select someone from the Latino population," del Rios said. "I am a front line provider."
On Tuesday, the provider became the patient. A handful of front line medical personnel vaccinated at Loretto Hospital on Chicago's West Side. The first batch of Pfizer vaccine arrived in the city Monday. Twenty-three thousand total doses for the first week and about the same will arrive each week for the foreseeable future.
The freshly vaccinated will spend Tuesday night signing up for check-in texts with the state and for the second shot in 21 days.
"It actually hurts less than the flu vaccine," Del Rios said.
Shortly after the event at Loretto Hospital Tuesday morning, Governor JB Pritzker held a similar event for front line workers in Peoria. The shipments arrived in Illinois Monday and hospitals began receiving them Tuesday.
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