Illinois received its first shipment of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine on Monday.
Governor J-B Pritzker says it's roughly half of the 86-thousand doses to be distributed outside the City of Chicago.
"At the recommendation of the CDC and medical professionals, a portion of our vaccine will be shipped directly from the manufacturer to four of our larger public health departments in Cook, Lake, Madison and St. Clair counties."
Pritzker says these four locations were chosen because of their ability to handle the ultra cold storage requirements of the Pfizer vaccine. He says shots will start to be given on Tuesday.
Illinois hospitals are preparing to receive their first shipments of the COVID-19 vaccine this week.
Illinois Hospital Association President and CEO A-J Wilhelmi says hospitals have internal distribution plans with local health departments and government partners to make sure this complex process goes as smoothly as possible.
"Hospitals will approach the vaccination process in a planned and orderly way that allows us to balance timely vaccinations of our most at-risk hospital workers with maintaining our ability to best care for our patients."
He says planning is necessary so no vaccine is wasted since the ultra cold storage requirement means the timing of distribution is critical.