Eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine will expand to all Illinois residents over the age of 16, except for those in the city of Chicago, starting April 12, Governor JB Pritzker announced on Thursday.
Pritzker and the Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, made the announcement during an update to COVID-19 in which he also revealed a new structure for the state’s reopening plan.
All Illinois residents over the age of 16 will be eligible to be vaccinated from April 12, said Pritzker, adding that state officials in the coming days will provide more information about certain populations that will become eligible before the final expansion.
“On that date, all state-supported mass vaccination sites, local health departments, pharmacy partners – in short, all jurisdictions that receive the Illinois state allocation vaccine – will be instructed to move to widespread eligibility,” said Pritzker’s office in a statement.
All vaccines will be made only by appointment, officials said, noting that “making an appointment to receive an injection can take time”.
Pritzker’s office also noted that residents who are not currently eligible to receive the vaccine cannot yet schedule an appointment for a future date, asking for patience in the days and weeks after April 12, as consultations “may be limited”.
For a complete view of where and how you can make an appointment in Illinois or where you can receive information about vaccines for your area, click here.
That April 12 date is ahead of the schedule that President Joe Biden set earlier this month, saying he would order states to make all adults eligible for the vaccine by May 1.
Pritzker said last week that he felt “confident” about advancing vaccine supplies and that he believed the state could move ahead of that deadline.
Illinois entered the so-called Phase 1B Plus of its vaccine implantation plan at the end of last month, expanding eligibility for individuals with certain comorbidities and high-risk medical conditions. This in addition to already qualified health workers and long-term care facility residents and residents who qualified in Phase 1A, plus essential frontline workers, as well as residents 65 and older who became eligible in the previous iteration Phase 1B.
For a complete view of who is eligible to be vaccinated in Phase 1B Plus, click here.
But when the state entered Phase 1B Plus, several jurisdictions, including the city of Chicago, the suburb of Cook County and several other counties in the area, announced that they would not expand eligibility along with the rest of Illinois, citing low vaccine supplies. .
Chicago officials announced on Wednesday that the city will move to Phase 1C, which includes all remaining essential workers, as well as all adults with qualified health conditions, as planned on March 29.
As Chicago receives its vaccine supply from the federal government allocated separately from the state, the city operates on its own structure and schedule and will not expand eligibility for all adults with the rest of the state on April 12.
Illinois officials said on Thursday that the state had administered more than 4.3 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccines available since vaccinations began in December, currently averaging around 100,000 doses per day as supplies increase.