SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS (KMOX) - Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker expressed surprise and disappointment when announcing Wednesday he's been told only about half the number of Pfizer coronavirus doses would be shipped the next couple of weeks as expected. "Per the direction of Operation Warp Speed's General (Gus) Perna, that estimate was tightened significantly." Pritzker was told 8-million doses would ship nationwide next week, with 8.8-million the week after that. Those shipments, he says, will only be 4.3-million each week. He was given no explanation for the change.
"I now no longer fully believe projections put in front of us by the federal government." The Governor added, saying, "This does not affect vaccine shipments that already arrived at our Strategic National Stockpile on Monday." Those 109-thousand doses are in hand and are already being distributed.
The change in estimate of delivery, nearly cutting it in half, is of concern to the Illinois Department of Public Health when it comes to providing vaccine doses for nursing homes. Fewer doses means more time until those in line behind front-line healthcare workers can be vaccinated. Director Ngozi Ezike took the news more in stride, saying they will only know how many doses are coming from the federal government when they arrive. The four largest counties in Illinois, including St. Clair in the Metro East, are getting their vaccine shipments directly from the federal government, not the state.
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