Thread by @BauerJournalism

Gov. JB Pritzker has his daily coronavirus update at 2:30 p.m. I'll live tweet.

Follow for updates and let me know if you have questions.

blockclubchicago.org/2020/12/04/ill…

You can watch here: multimedia.illinois.gov/press/press-li…

Pritzker says today's update will focus on vaccine distribution in Illinois.

blockclubchicago.org/2020/12/04/a-c…

Pritzker: "We now know that first up in the FDA's review will be the Pfizer vaccine, which recorded an incredible 95% percent effective rate across a trial of 43,000 participants." It requires two doses given three weeks apart and ultra-cold storage.

Pritzker: Moderna was also very effective. It only requires standard freezer temperature. Two doses.

Pritzker: Illinois will only distribute a vaccine deemed safe.

Pritzker: "Never before have we seen an early vaccine study like the studies that have come out for these vaccines, of this scale that have demonstrated such high levels of protection."

Pritzker: ASIP, the CDC's advisory committee, "has provided an initial set of recommendations on who should receive the first round of available vaccines." It first focuses on health care workers and long-term care residents.

Pritzker: "This is Phase 1A of vaccine distribution. The goal here is to fortify the health care workforce by removing these most exposed workers from the cycle of quarantine, illness and infection, as well as protecting our most vulnerable residents."

Pritzker: Large cities — including Chicago — will get a separate, direct supply of the vaccine.

Pritzker: "The city of Chicago's distribution will operate in tandem with the rest of the state, and we're in communication with city officials as they work to allocate the distribution they get."

Pritzker: Illinois is slated to get 109,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. That breaks down to 23,000 to the city of Chicago directly & 86,000 to the rest of the state of Illinois. "There will be shipments of more and more vaccine each week following that first shipment's arrival."

Pritzker: In Illinois, the vaccine will be prioritized to health care workers in the 50 counties with the highest death rates per capita.

Pritzker: "We also know that for many reasons, Black and Brown Americans have disproportionately suffered deaths from COVID-19 in their communities. ACIP is currently considered specific allocations of the vaccine before expanding to the remainder of the population."

Pritzker: "In other words, this will not be a quick process." No single person will be fully vaccinated even by Christmas. "It will likely be months before people with low risk factor for COVID-19 see their first dose."

Pritzker: MRNA vaccines don't require any deactivated version of the virus they prevent. It allows vaccines to be produced efficiently and more cheaply.

Pritzker: "That we are on the precipice of the first vaccination just a year after this virus was first detected is a true testament tot he qualify of researchers and epidemiologists and infectious disease doctors that we have."

Dr. Ngozi Ezike, head of the Illinois Department of Public Health: "Regardless of how many doses we do receive, IDPH will be tracking shipments, allocations and the data to detect any disparities in administration."

Ezike: IDPH will get it from the CDC and store it in its national stockpile. They have 20 ultra-cold freezers for housing the Pfizer vaccine.

The vaccine will be sent to the 50 counties with the highest death rate per capita. IDPH has already notified the 10 hospitals of the ...

regional hospital coordination center that will serve as the distribution site for the vaccine to the local health departments of those 50 counties. the local health departments will work with hospitals to identify high-risk and critical health care workers to get vaccinated.

Ezike: There is a federal partnership with CVS and Walgreens to administer vaccine to long-term care facility residents. All facilities but 5 in Illinois have registered for that.

Ezike: This process will continue until hopefully everyone is vaccinated. For now, it might be for people 18 and over until we hear otherwise. "There are still many moving parts to the plan," but they want to share info as they get it.

Ezike: 10,526 new cases; total of 770,088.
148 deaths; total of 12,974.

Pritzker: "I'd be happy to demonstrate to people that I would take the vaccine," but people should wait in line.

Pritzker: We are sending it to the hospitals so they can distribute it to their personnel. It's up to them to have their personnel line up for getting it.

Pritzker: We also have a pretty good idea of the city of Chicago and across the state where the communities are if you want to address inequities in Black and Brown communities. IDPH is looking at the possibility of allowing local health departments to use mobile facilities ...

for the vaccine of distribution. "But, again, we're looking for the plans from the 96 of the 97 local health departments, the 97th being Chicago and they have a separate allocation." All but eight have been submitted to IDPH.

Pritzker: "This is unprecedented, like everything else in 2020; this is unprecedented. I'm very proud" of the country and researchers, epidemiologists, etc.

Ezike on if pregnant people should get the vaccine: "There are still questions that are unanswered, and I am not the one to make the final call. We're waiting for data. That is a specific group that we need to have information on, in terms of pregnancy. We have to see if the ...

"FDA says if there were enough pregnant women — usually pregnant women are not included in these trials. ... The guidelines that come out might say" to exclude them for now.

Ezike: 1A alone, they want to get it done as soon as possible, but it will depend on how much the state is allocated and if another vaccine is approved soon.

Ezike: "In terms of getting it to everyone who wants it, I'm hoping we can get through that in four weeks, a month or so." Group 1B will take much longer.

Pritzker: "... Understand that there was a bill back in May that would have allowed that. the General Assembly did not take that bill up. The bill also would have clarified some of the rules around social equity licenses. I want to speed up making sure the social equity ...

"licenses get out there. I have worked with the Black Caucus to make sure we're doing that as expeditiously as possible."

Pritzker: The feds offered the state help with PPE, etc., and the state took them up on that. At the end of last month, they offered a consultant to come in and review protocols at long-term facilities. The state took them up on that.

Pritzker: "I would say it is funny to me the congressman is attacking me on this point when he voted against funding for our state veterans homes, and that would have been very helpful" in keeping residents safe.

Pritzker: I can tell you there are massive fraudulent unemployment claims because there are identities that have been stolen in every state and applications made on behalf of those people.

Pritzker: "... Illinois is not unusual in this regard, that literally nearly every state has had not only massive amounts of fraud but huge delays that have occurred as a result of the massive influx in applications for unemployment."

Pritzker, asked about being impeached: "Is that a real question?" Laughs. "I don't know how to answer that. ... I have a strong approval rating in the state. I think I've done a good job."

Pritzker: "In many ways, we already are involved; that is to say, with every hospital we are responsive to them, they call us for help when they need it of any sort. We're gonna continue to monitor those ICU beds." ICU numbers are "coming down mildly across the state. ...

The hospital beds overall have come down about 15% off the peak so far. I'm not saying we should celebrate anything because we still have to get through this period that people have talked bout as a surge" upon a surge.

Ezike: If I'm in a group of 20 and 10 people have not been vaccinated, and she's infected, she can infect the unvaccinated people. But if everyone else is vaccinated, she can't transmit it to them.

Every person who gets vaccinated moves us closer to being safer.

Pritzker: Prison population is down. The jail population has come down significantly over the last couple of months as we have transferred more potential inmates from jail to prison.

(But at Cook County Jail, we're almost back at pre-pandemic levels: blockclubchicago.org/2020/12/01/off….)

Pritzker: "This is frankly the same challenge that exists in all the populations, and even moreso when we're at the highest levels of the pandemic. This surge has been much higher than even the last surge was back in the spring. There is a great deal that has been done. ...

"Although long-term care facilities had been completely shut down to outside visitors, we opened it up for [outdoor] visiting for a period of time. Now we no longer have that open ... . That's one thing that's been done. Certainly infection control is better" now than it was.

Pritzker: "The first thing we've done is ... we set parameters, ACIP has helped with that, for who should get the vaccine." They're requiring local health departments to follow that. They submit a plan to IDPH. Then they distribute the vaccine to the providers that will ...

"administer it. "That's the most important thing. I would add on top of that, that we have to move through this first phase of the vaccine distribution to make sure that we're covering the health care workers and long-term care facility workers and residents certainly before ...

"it would ever get to any broader population."

Pritzker: Chicago has about 21% of the population of the state, so about 21% of the 109,000 going to Illinois will go directly to Chicago. "It's about 23,000. And the rest of the state and the state SNS gets the other 86,000 of those."

Press conference over.

blockclubchicago.org/2020/12/04/ill…