Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced on Friday that the state will move into the early stages of Phase 1B of the COVID-19 Vaccine Administration Plan beginning on Monday, Jan. 25.
More than 3.2 million Illinoisans are eligible for Phase 1B. Eligible residents will be able to receive a vaccine at one of the Illinois National Guard (ILNG) assisted sites, at a site operated by a local health department or at a partner pharmacy.
Walgreens is now online in a limited number of sites statewide. CVS and Jewel-Osco will be coming online early next week and additional pharmacies such as Hy-Vee, Mariano’s and Kroger will be joining later next week.
While federal vaccine shipments to states remain limited, the state is aggressively building out provider capacity to ensure efficient distribution as soon as more vaccine becomes available.
Taken together, these pharmacy partners will provide hundreds of sites in every region of the state.
At this time, these sites will be available by appointment only.
As the federal supply of vaccines increases and Illinois receives more vaccines, the state will launch walk-in locations and expand sites to additional providers like doctors offices and urgent care clinics. More information about those locations will be released in the coming weeks.
Illinois remains committed to distributing the vaccine in an equitable, accessible way and as a part of Phase 1B, all residents over the age of 65 and frontline essential workers can receive the vaccine by appointment.
As the state substantially completes Phase 1A, Illinois has surpassed its daily vaccination record multiple times, most recently vaccinating more than 44,000 people in a 24-hour period. The state has administered more than 60 percent of its vaccine allocation outside of Chicago. That doesn’t include the federal Pharmacy Partnership Program, and substantially more vaccines once data lag in the reported administrations is accounted for.
“As more vaccine is allocated to Illinois, and more people are eligible to be vaccinated, we are starting to see the finish line coming into focus,” said Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “I am cautiously optimistic with the trends we are seeing in Illinois, but I want to stress how important it is for us to continue our public health actions of wearing masks and avoiding large gatherings. Getting to the end of this pandemic will be about the choices we make. The choice to wear our masks, the choice to keep our distance, and the choice to get vaccinated.”