WILL COUNTY –Today, the county received more than 4,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, recently authorized for distribution by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The State of Illinois is following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) which is breaking up the vaccination process into four phases, focusing on “critical populations” first.
“Today is a great day in Will County as we witness the beginning of the end of this pandemic,” said County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant. “Through this meticulously coordinated effort between the state, the county and county health department and local hospitals, our healthcare workers could begin receiving these vaccinations as soon as this evening..”
The county’s allocation was shared among several healthcare sites to begin vaccinating persons in health care settings who may have direct or indirect patient exposure.
“This has been a long road for all of us, and now we enter into the next stage of our fight against COVID-19,” said Sue Olenek, executive director of the county health department. “It is great to have the vaccine out and being distributed, but it will take a long time before the general public is vaccinated. That means we must continue to wear our masks properly, be aware of social distancing, and avoid large groups and gatherings, especially during the coming Christmas and New Year’s holidays. As we move through the various phases of the vaccination processwe ask for the public to educate themselves and be patient.”
Additional deliveries of the vaccine will be available in the coming weeks for residents of long-term care facilities and essential frontline workers, including first responders, grocery store workers, funeral directors, day care workers. Visit the Will County Health Department website: https://willcountyhealth.org/covid-19/covid-vaccine for more information.The complete Illinois Department of Public Health’s Mass Vaccination Plan is available on their website: https://www.dph.illinois.gov/covid19/vaccination-plan.
