CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Medical executives for a large hospital system believe they'll be starting to distribute COVID-19 vaccinations as early as next week.
Advocate Aurora Health executives said there are 960 COVID patients in the system's 26 hospitals in Illinois and Wisconsin. According to Chief Medical Officer Dr. Gary Stuck, 575 COVID patients are in Advocate's 10 Illinois hospitals while 385 are being treated at the system's 16 hospitals in Wisconsin. Dr. Stuck said more than 15,000 COVID patients have been treated and been able to go home afterwards since the pandemic began.
He said the concern is that people will have big holiday get-togethers and burden hospitals and staffs.
"We are strained with staffing, but we are handling it. That's why, again, we need everyone to help us to limit those social gatherings so that we don't get more in-patients," Dr. Stuck said.
Dr. Robert Citronberg, Executive Medical Director of Infectious Disease and Prevention, said vaccinations of staff who deal most often with COVID patients could start next week.
"Mass vaccination is our only way out of this pandemic. It is the ticket out," he said.
Dr. Citronberg said there is no mandate for Advocate staffers to receive vaccinations, but they will be encouraged to get them. He believes that, over the next several months, "the vast majority" of Advocate staffers will have been immunized.
Dr. Citronberg said there is a prioritization strategy that determines which Advocate staffers will be offered a COVID vaccination first.
"Those are people who work in patient-care areas where COVID is present, so emergency departments, ICU's, COVID units, and even within those units, we are trying to identify people within those units at the highest risk, people spending the most time with those patients."
Dr. Stuck said people who receive vaccinations will still have to follow COVID mitigation measures such as wearing masks, keeping their distance from others, and good hand-washing.
"A lot of folks will think, 'Hey, I got my vaccine, so I don't need the mask anymore' and that's simply not true," he said.
Dr. Citronberg said it still might be possible for an immunized person to contract the coronavirus, not get sick, but pass the virus to someone else who could become ill or worse.
Dr. Stuck urges people to follow the advice that has been given by public health officials and not to gather over the holidays with anyone whom you don't live with to keep down the in-patient COVID numbers in the hospital.
"Our doctors and nurses are making big sacrifices too and we're strongly urging you to think of them and your own loved ones as you make your holiday gatherings virtual this year," he said.
"We are just absolutely imploring the public to not gather together and to celebrate virtually. Again, we know this is very difficult but we know that's the only way we can stem this tide and keep the pressure off of our in-patients."
Dr. Nkem Iroegbu, Chief Medical Officer of Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center, said front line staffers are feeling the effects of the pandemic.
"Many are dealing with the effects of chronic stress, feelings of exhaustion, grief, anger, anxiety, depression and, in some cases, burnout. They've hung in there and I'm really impressed with how well many of them have done despite all the challenges that they face," Dr. Iroegbu said.
Dr. Citronberg said Advocate Aurora Health is working with state and local health departments in Illinois and Wisconsin to determine how much vaccine the system will be getting and when.
