Updated COVID-19 Vaccines Available In Chicago Beginning This Week

CHICAGO — With more than 99 percent of new COVID-19 cases being linked to two subvariants of the omicron strain of the virus, Chicago health officials are now saying there is no time like the present to get an updated booster shot that is designed specifically to target the virus like never before.

After the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration issued final approval for two updated COVID-19 bivalent vaccines last week, the City of Chicago has been allocated an initial shipment of 150,000 doses of the new vaccines, health officials said on Tuesday.

The vaccines will be available at local pharmacies and grocery store pharmacies beginnings early as Tuesday for Chicago residents ages 12 and up, city officials said in a news conference on Tuesday. Chicago Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said that studies show that 99.9 percent of new COVID-19 cases are linked to either BA.4 or BA.5. strains, which makes the timing for the rollout of the new vaccines almost perfect.

The announcement from Chicago health officials comes less than a week after the Illinois Department of Public Health said it is expecting 730,000 doses of the new vaccines to begin arriving soon.

The new vaccines are designed to guard against both the original COVID-19 strain and the new strains, Arwady said. Both Chicago and Cook County remain in the medium community COVID-19 level, but Arwady warned that both the city and county could return to the high level if numbers rise to higher levels, especially with more people returning indoors as fall approaches.

"Please don't think, 'Oh, this is just more COVID news. I'm really tired of COVID.' ... We need Chicago to get this updated vaccine," Arwady said at the news conference. "It's new. It's different. And it will give better protection than what we had previously."

She added: “This vaccine gives us a chance to try to get ahead of the virus."

Arwady and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said at Tuesday’s news conference that residents may check the availability of the new COVID-19 vaccines through local pharmacies such as Walgreens, CVS, and other retail locations that offer vaccines. Residents can also visit vaccines.gov to check where they can get the new shots.

More than 130 local pharmacies around Chicago and Cook County are expected to carry the new vaccines starting this week, Arwady said Tuesday.

Arwady said that the city will be allocated more doses as the current allotment is used. Both Pfizer and Moderna versions of the vaccines will be made available. The Pfizer version is for residents ages 12 and up while the Moderna vaccines are for residents 18 and older.

"Today, we are taking a new step to ensure every resident can continue to be protected against COVID-19 and all of its subvariants," Lightfoot said. "This updated vaccine is critical to our ongoing fight against this pandemic and will help to keep our residents and their communities as healthy as possible."

Arwady said Tuesday that 1.8 million Chicagoans are eligible for the booster and said that the city health department has partnered with City Colleges to set up vaccination stations around the city where pharmacies aren’t readily available. There will also be aldermanic sites around the city with at least one vaccination site set up in every ward.

Arwady encouraged those who have already gotten a COVID-19 booster to get the updated version along with a flu shot, which she and Lightfoot said will keep the highest number of people protected as the pandemic continues.

“Getting this updated vaccine now in September and October will be the best thing to help keep that surge in control … in November and December,” Arwady said Tuesday. “And if people think it’s better to wait for a surge and then get the vaccine, that is definitely not true based on everything we know now.”