CHICAGO (CBS) — Every Illinois resident 16 and older will be eligible for the coveted COVID vaccine, beginning next week.
An additional 150,000 of new first-dose COVID vaccine appointments will be available starting Monday April 12.
Governor JB Pritzker made the announcement on Thursday as he and Doctor Ngozi Ezike, head of the Illinois Department Public Health toured the Illinois National Guard Forest Park mass vaccination site. The facility now administers more than 3,000 vaccinations per day,
The 150,000 new first-dose vaccine appointments will available at 11 state-supported mass vaccination operations throughout Cook and the collar counties starting the week of April 12 as Illinois “opens to universal eligibility for individuals 16 and older.”
The state will deliver more than a quarter of a million doses next week to Cook and county sites open to all Illinois residents on top of tens of thousands of newly available appointments at hospitals, local county sites, and other mass vaccination sites throughout the region.
Mass vaccination site and pharmacy appointments for the week of Monday, April 12, will be released on Thursday and over the coming days.
“Weeks ago, we set our sights on April 12 as the date for every county receiving vaccine from the state to open to full eligibility, and I’m so proud that all 101 counties and Suburban Cook have met that timeline,” said Governor Pritzker. “Today, about one year from the beginning of the pandemic, the state of Illinois alone has administered over 6.7 million doses of vaccine.”
Pritzker said 73% of the state’s seniors and 42% of people over the age of 16 have had at least one dose and nearly one quarter of our the state’s population has been fully vaccinated.
“Our fight to stay safe and protect ourselves isn’t over, but with each day and each dose, we move closer and closer to putting this pandemic to an end,” Pritzker said.
Starting Monday, every Illinoisan 16 and over will be eligible to get these lifesaving vaccines. We have everything we need to get to the other side of this crisis. pic.twitter.com/Sc5qcJbM1u
— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) April 8, 2021
“COVID-19 vaccination is one of the most powerful and effective tools we can use to fight this pandemic together,” said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “We now have more providers than ever before, and we are working diligently to make sure underserved communities and those disproportionately affected by COVID-19 have access to the vaccine.”