The additional doses will be distributed under a new Federal Retail Pharmacy Program that was announced Tuesday. Illinois and Chicago are two of the 15 jurisdictions in which Walgreens will offer these additional doses.
These thousands of additional doses are on top of the supply that Walgreens already receives through the Illinois Department of Public Health. The additional vaccinations through the new federal partnership will begin Feb. 11, according to the White House.
For a complete look at where you can get the coronavirus vaccine in Illinois or how to receive vaccine information for your area, click here.
In addition to the Walgreens, Illinois also announced the addition of two National Guard-led vaccination sites, bringing the total number of added locations this week to 80.
As of Tuesday, seven mass vaccination sites will have opened in suburban Cook County as Illinois begins the next phase of its vaccine rollout, opening up doses.
This does not mean, however, that right away you will be able to get the vaccine as easily as you can get the flu shot, Pritzker said. Because federal vaccine production was hampered by the failure of the previous administration to properly invoke the Defense Production Act, vaccine supply is still limited all across the nation. There are additional vaccines in the pipeline that may soon seek FDA approval, and that will help. But there are 3.2 million Illinoisans in Phase 1B, so there will be far greater demand than supply for the near term – to put it in perspective, we’re expecting approximately 126,000 first doses to arrive next week outside of Chicago. That’s less than 4% of the 1B population. Until the vaccine supply improves, we will all need to be patient.