Starting in Dec. 2020, the COVID-19 vaccine was available to healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities in Illinois to start their phase 1A of the vaccine distribution. Then starting on Jan. 25, 2021, frontline healthcare workers, adults over the age of 75 and essential workers were allowed to go get the vaccine as apart of their phase 1B.  

Next up, people younger than the age of 65, who have pre-existing conditions, are allowed to get the vaccine on Feb. 25, 2021, including others who were allowed to get the vaccine in earlier phases.  Soon after that, phase two will proceed with the rest of the population. 

According to the IDPH, as of Feb. 9, 2021, a total number of 1,480,079 people have gotten the COVID-19 vaccine in Illinois. Of those people, 327,413 people have gotten their two doses of the vaccine. So, about 55,135 people get vaccinated every week. This has all led to a decrease in new cases and deaths found in Illinois since the beginning of January.

Some counties are on track with the different phases, some are ahead of them and some are behind, like Chicago. It all depends on how many vaccinations they are able to get at a time. 

“Here in Chicago, if we add additional people right now to 1b, all we do is make it harder for the people already eligible to get the vaccine,” Arwady said.“Here in Chicago, if we add additional people right now to 1b, all we do is make it harder for the people [are] already eligible to get the vaccine,” Chicago public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said in an interview to the Chicago Tribune.

As Illinois continues to receive the different doses of the vaccine, they hope to get everyone vaccinated in each phase as quickly as possible. There have also been new vaccination sites added, so that has also helped with getting Illinois residents vaccinated.