Southwest IL hospitals expect to start vaccinating employees for COVID-19 this week

Metro-east hospitals are poised to receive their first supplies of a coronavirus vaccine this week to be administered to doctors, nurses and other health-care workers.

On Monday morning, St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency Director Herb Simmons said he was told Sunday that supplies could arrive as early as Monday or as late as Wednesday.

On Monday afternoon, St. Clair County Health Department spokeswoman Brenda Fedak said the department is expecting the vaccine to arrive Wednesday, but she noted that it’s a fluid situation that is changing rapidly.

“(Supplies) will be delivered directly to the hospitals, and the health department will verify those deliveries,” Fedak said.

Anne Thomure, spokeswoman for Memorial Hospital Belleville and Memorial Hospital East in Shiloh, said Monday afternoon that those two hospitals are planning to begin vaccinating employees by the end of the week.

Natalie Head, spokeswoman for Anderson Hospital in Maryville, said that hospital is still waiting for confirmation on when its vaccination process will begin.

“HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital (in O’Fallon) is expecting delivery of vaccine this week, but we do not know the date or time,” according to a statement from spokeswoman Kelly Barbeau on Monday. “We do have internal plans in place to administer the vaccine as soon as it is possible after we receive the delivery.”

On Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer, an American pharmaceutical company with a research facility in St. Louis, and Germany-based BioNTech.

The first shipment was loaded Sunday onto a UPS jet in Michigan, where Pfizer is producing the vaccine, for distribution throughout the United States.

“This is a historic day,” said Richard W. Smith, who oversees operations in the Americas for FedEx Express, which also is transporting vaccine supplies.

Most states, including Illinois, are expected to follow recommendations of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to first vaccinate health-care workers who are most at risk of contracting the coronavirus, followed by residents of nursing homes and other long-term-care facilities.

Illinois received its first 43,000 vaccine doses on Monday at the Illinois Strategic National Stockpile, according to a news release from Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office.

“Today marks a momentous occasion, not just this year, but in American history,” Pritzker stated. “Eleven months after scientists the world over first got their hands on the genetic sequence of this virus, and we are seeing the beginning of the end of this pandemic.

“I want to offer my gratitude not only to the researchers who fueled this moment, but also to all the truck drivers, pilots, logistics specialists, warehouse operations managers, and law enforcement officers who have spent the last few days and weeks deploying the largest national mission in a generation. May we all take a moment to feel hope today.”

Later on Monday, Pritzker and other officials appeared at a Chicago news conference and reported that Illinois is expected to receive 109,000 vaccine doses this week. Plans call for them to be distributed throughout the state, starting with the 50 counties with the highest per-capita death rates due to COVID-19.

Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, emphasized that people shouldn’t let down their guards in terms of following COVID-19 guidelines.

“I definitely look forward to the day when the vaccine is widely available to every single person in this state,” she said. “Until that time, we still need to continue with our masking, avoiding crowds, watching our distance and washing our hands.”

Fedak said the St. Clair County Health Department expects vaccine supplies for nursing homes and other long-term-care facilities in the metro-east to arrive next week. They will be administered by Walgreens and CVS.

“The facilities had to sign up prior to this for that service,” Fedak said.

St. Clair County Health Department Emergency Response Coordinator Sam Bierman last week said officials expect the COVID-19 vaccine to be available to the general public by January or February or soon after.

The federal government also sent a direct shipment of the vaccine to Chicago on Monday, according to the news release from Pritzker’s office. More direct shipments will be received by Cook County Department of Public Health, Lake County Health Department and Community Health Center, Madison County Health Department and St. Clair County Health Department.

St. Clair County officials are encouraging everyone to get vaccinated to protect themselves against the coronavirus as soon as it’s available to them.

During the daily Emergency Management Agency video briefing Thursday, St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern said he plans to invite doctors to appear on the broadcast and discuss the safety of vaccinations.

“I’m going to get vaccinated when it becomes available for us,” Kern said. “I think everyone here is dedicated to that. And it’s really going to be necessary, if we’re going to control the spread of COVID, that we get a good number of people vaccinated.”

This story was originally published December 15, 2020 at 5:00 AM.