Fact-Check: Did Pritzker Prioritize Inmates, Pols and College Kids for Vaccination? A Facebook post from the Illinois Republican Party claims Gov. Pritzker put prisoners, politicians and college students ahead of those with health risks to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. College students generally are not eligible. Feb 12, 2021 12:00 PM
Barbara Shields-Johnson, director of Nursing Services at Loretto Hospital, gets her 2nd and final dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at Norwegian American Hospital in Chicago, Jan. 5, 2021. (Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times)
Illinois’ entry into the second phase of its COVID-19 vaccination plan means many more residents are eligible, but not everyone agrees the state is prioritizing the right groups as vaccine demand still outpaces supply.
ELYSSA CHERNEY
Chicago Tribune
Bonnie Laughlin-Schultz enforces social distancing, sanitizes surfaces and keeps a face shield for emergencies this semester as she convenes in-person classes at Eastern Illinois University.
The associate professor decided to work in the classroom to help her students after nearly a year of online learning, but she worries about bringing COVID-19 home and infecting others in Charleston. As an extra precaution, Laughlin-Schultz said she tried wearing two masks during the 75-minute sessions, but that muffled her voice during lectures.
âI am very conscious of safety and of my studentsâ safety,â said Laughlin-Schultz, 45. âI donât want anyone anywhere near me because I donât want to be infected or to infect any of them.â
State Sen. Chapin Rose has been sounding the alarm for several weeks regarding a major gap that has developed in Illinois’ COVID-19 vaccination program for residents of skilled-care nursing facilities. Rose notes that the issue stems from the inability of long-term care facilities to schedule prompt vaccinations with their contracted pharmacists. This has created a situation where some of the most vulnerable individuals (included in the “Tier 1A” priority group) remain without vaccinations while their surrounding counties are moving on and beginning to vaccinate lower tier population groups. Rose has been pushing the Governor and his administration for weeks now on this issue and the problem has now gotten completely out of control. According to a WBEZ story from January 26
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Being an agricultural worker “is the most beautiful thing,” Saraí says in an interview in Spanish. She asked to be identified only by her first name because she’s undocumented.
Saraí hasn’t been in the fields lately, though, instead focusing on getting her three kids through virtual schooling. And while she has been spared from the virus, Sarai knows many others who’ve gotten sick. She says the pandemic has made the past year a sad and difficult one for many agricultural workers.
There have been tens of thousands of COVID-19 cases and hundreds of deaths reported among U.S. farmworkers and meat plant workers. Because there isn’t an official tracking system in place, these figures based largely on media reports are likely an undercount.