Suburban medical workers line up to receive COVID-19 vaccines
Before dawn, an ordinary, gray minivan pulled up to an Edward Hospital loading deck.
For 10 long months, medical workers had waited for the sight of that van and the precious cargo inside: boxes filled with vaccine doses and new hope for the beginning of the end of the pandemic that has killed 14,835 people in Illinois.
Initial batches of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine began arriving with police escorts to hospitals across the suburbs early Thursday. Within hours, health care workers who have cared for COVID-19 patients daily since March lined up for vaccines developed in record time.
Edward Hospital in Naperville administered the first dose to Aminderjit Dhanoa, a 37-year-old respiratory therapist and a COVID-19 survivor himself.
In a show of confidence for the vaccine, Elmhurst Hospital President and CEO Pamela Dunley got her shot without a wince. But seeing the vial brought tears to her eyes.
"I'm ready," she said.
Ready for relief for a hospital system that, just a month ago, was treating 175 virus patients during the worst of the fall surge.
"It's been an emotional nine months," said Dr. Sanjeeb Khatua, chief physician executive. "I've shed a lot of tears in the last year."
The vaccine deliveries also reached Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, NorthShore University HealthSystem and Advocate Aurora Health hospitals four days after the state's shipment arrived to a Strategic National Stockpile site this week.
That set off a logistically complex distribution effort, as the state sent vaccines to 10 "hub" hospitals across Illinois to store. In most cases, county health departments are distributing those doses to other health care providers.
DuPage Medical Group is storing the vaccines for the entire county - all 13,650 doses - in ultracold freezers. The county health department on Thursday started delivering the vaccine from the medical group facility to area hospitals.
Pfizer's two-dose vaccine has to be stored at minus-94 degrees Fahrenheit. Once hospital officials "break the cold chain," the vaccines must be used within about five days.
"No one wants to waste a dose, so this gives us the ability to make sure that we can have a process in place," said Dr. Donald Hoscheit, the chief medical officer of DuPage Medical Group.
He estimated about half the county's doses went out Thursday morning. "And I think the next half will go out over the next two, three days," he said.
Tracking doses
Health care systems have a tiered system that staggers vaccinations to avoid staffing constraints should employees experience any side effects.
In addition to hospital workers, local fire department paramedics from Arlington Heights, Schaumburg, Palatine, Prospect Heights and Itasca were getting vaccinated Thursday at Northwest Community Hospital.
The initial supply of vaccines - about 2,000 doses - at the Arlington Heights hospital will be given throughout this week. The goal is to vaccinate 150 people an hour.
As more vaccines are delivered in the coming weeks, Northwest Community Hospital intends to make the vaccine available to every employee who wants it.
Medical workers are signing up for the inoculations with the hope of sending a message to counter public apprehension about the vaccine.
Laura Aagesen, a Northwest Community emergency room nurse, wanted to be sure to be among the first in line.
"I had no concerns about the side effects because I've seen the side effects of COVID, and I feel (they) far outweigh the minimal risk involved with the shot," Aagesen said. "My son had COVID, and he's still having side effects from COVID."
As part of the registration process, the newly vaccinated are issued a standardized card from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with the date of their dose. Those cards were delivered with the packages of vaccines.
Immunization records also are shared with the state's I-CARE system, and then those are reported to the CDC.
"They have a very close tracking mechanism about what patient got what dose at what time," said Hoscheit, a DuPage Medical gastroenterologist.
A way forward
The 975 initial doses allotted to the DuPage physician group will cover just less than a third of its workforce.
It's the first step toward some semblance of normalcy, but experts warn the pandemic is far from over.
"It's really important we don't let our guards down, first of all so we don't overwhelm the health care system (and) second of all, the people that are receiving the vaccine stay well enough to get their second dose of vaccine," Hoscheit said.
Dr. Robert Citronberg, an infectious disease specialist for Advocate Aurora Health, got his vaccine in memory of those who have died from COVID-19 and in salute of the health care workers who have worked tirelessly on the front lines.
"I feel great, but I'm still going to wear my mask," he said in a video. "I'm still going to practice social distancing until we have this pandemic under control, and you should do the same thing."
• Daily Herald staff writer Christopher Placek and Scott C. Morgan contributed to this report
Vaccine allotments from the state
These are the suburban hospitals that are rolling out vaccines, followed by their allotted doses earmarked for health care workers, according to state officials.
(Health departments in Cook and Lake counties are receiving direct shipments of vaccine from the federal government.)
Kane County: Advocate Sherman (960); Amita Health Mercy (955); Northwestern Medicine Delnor (960); Amita Health St. Joseph (960); Rush Copley (960)
DuPage County: DuPage Medical Group (975); Hinsdale Hospital (1,950); Amita Adventist GlenOaks (975); Edward Hospital (1,950); Elmhurst Hospital (1,950); Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital (2,925); Northwestern Medicine Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital (975); Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital (975)
Will County: Silver Cross (2,110); Amita Health St. Joseph (1,725); Amita Adventist Bolingbrook (975); Silver Oaks (150)
Source: Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office