Chicago Opens First Mass COVID-19 Vaccination Site At Malcolm X College
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago's first mass vaccination site opened Tuesday morning at Malcolm X College in the Medical District.
Dr. Allison Arwady received her Pfizer vaccine at the site Tuesday morning.
"I am really really pleased to be able to get my vaccine today, I have absolutely no hesitation about it," Arwady said.
The site is only open to hospital workers and appointments are required.
The number of people vaccinated against COVID-19 in the Chicago area could soon surge. Already more than 113,000 of the shots have been given in Illinois, putting the state in the top five in distribution. Now there is a new push to get even more people vaccinated.
The City of Chicago is still in Phase 1A of vaccinations, meaning health care workers and long term care facility residents are the only ones who are getting shots, but Monday afternoon CBS 2 learned there will be a significant expansion that will allow thousands more to receive the vaccine.
"The city is standing up it's first central mass vaccination clinic, which again will be focused only for outpatient health care workers by appointment," said Dr. Allison Arwady, head of the Chicago Department of Public Health.
This comes as the Moderna vaccine is beginning to be widely distributed and more shipments of the Pfizer vaccine are delivered.
CBS 2 reached out to several area hospital systems, and many said that the vaccinations were going well. A spokesperson for the University of Chicago Health System said 4,500 people have received the vaccine or have an appointment to get one. They expect to get their next shipment Tuesday. Nearly 17,000 Advocate Health Care team members have been vaccinated in Illinois and Wisconsin, and Cook County Health expects to have all interested employees vaccinated by Jan. 15. Northshore has vaccinated more than 6,000 team members at its five hospitals. Edward-Elmhurst Health received a Moderna shipment with 2,800 doses Monday.
This all comes as Illinois Monday surpassed 16,000 COVID-19 deaths.
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