Updated COVID-19 boosters roll out at Illinois pharmacies, city-run clinics

Chicago leaders are urging the 1.8 million city residents now eligible for new, updated COVID-19 boosters to grab them to help prevent another surge of the illness and the emergence of more, dangerous variants.

The city of Chicago, as well as a number of Illinois pharmacies, are now administering the updated shots, after they were authorized last week by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We’ve come a long way, but there’s more that we can all do to make sure that we’re safe, that our households are safe, that our workplaces are safe, that our city is safe,” Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said at a news conference Tuesday. “This newest vaccine, I think, provides another important opportunity to make sure we’re protected against the predominant variant here in our city.”

The city is receiving about 150,000 initial doses of the updated boosters this week — about 20 times more than what it received during the initial rollout of vaccines in 2021, said Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady. The state has said it’s expecting about 580,000 initial doses this week, which is in addition to the 150,000 for Chicago.

Some city-run clinics offered the shots Tuesday, and the city is planning to offer them at vaccination clinics at city colleges Saturday, as well as through its vaccination-at-home program. About 170 pharmacy sites in the city are expected to receive doses this week, including a number of CVS Health, Jewel-Osco, Walgreens, Mariano’s, Walmart and Costco sites.

On Tuesday in Illinois, CVS was allowing people to make appointments online, for as soon as that day, for the updated boosters. Walgreens pharmacies were also administering the updated boosters Tuesday, with additional appointments opening as more of the shots arrive, said spokeswoman Kris Lathan. Jewel-Osco was also administering the boosters Tuesday, said spokeswoman Mary Frances Trucco.

The updated boosters, made by Pfizer and Moderna, are called bivalent boosters because they protect against both the original strain of COVID-19 as well as the omicron subvariants that are now behind nearly all cases in the U.S. The updated Pfizer booster is for people ages 12 and older, and the updated Moderna booster is for people ages 18 and older.

The shots are for people who have already received two doses of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. People should be at least two months past their last COVID-19 vaccine shot.

“This is a big deal,” Arwady said at the news conference. “This updated COVID-19 vaccine is the first time we’ve had a change to the kind of COVID vaccine you can get.”

The boosters “couldn’t be a better match” for the omicron subvariants now circulating, she said.

She noted that since the omicron variant has been dominant in Chicago, unvaccinated people have been more than three times as likely to be hospitalized and six times more likely to die as those who’ve received previous boosters. Even many people who already had COVID-19 caused by the omicron variant are getting reinfected, she said.

“Getting the vaccine that is a perfect match is your best chance to not only protect yourself and community in the coming months against severe outcomes, but also to hopefully help us get ahead of the COVID virus looking to the winter,” she said, noting that the last two winters brought COVID-19 surges.

The updated boosters could also help to head off the emergence of more variants, she said.

“The more transmission that is happening, the more chances there are for the virus to mutate and when the virus mutates that is when we see the emergence of new variants,” Arwady said. “You getting vaccinated ... it is for you and your family, but it also at the population level, helps us give less opportunities for that virus to mutate.”

In Chicago, about 77% of residents ages 12 and older — 1.8 million people — have completed their primary series of vaccinations, meaning they’re eligible for the updated booster.

So far, previous boosters have not been as popular as the initial doses, with just 44% of Chicago residents ages 12 and older having received a booster.

Lightfoot said she hopes more people get the updated boosters.

“I get that there’s COVID fatigue. There was COVID fatigue in 2020 and 2021,” Lightfoot said. “But COVID is still here. It’s still contagious. It’s still deadly.”

By getting a booster, “You are doing yourself, your family and ... our entire city a favor because COVID spreads so rapidly, we’ve got to make sure we continue to be diligent in getting people vaccinated.”

The city is planning vaccination clinics Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Olive Harvey College and Arturo Velasquez Westside Technical Institute. People are encouraged to register for those events at Chicago.gov/COVIDvax, with walk-ins welcome as space allows.

The city is also offering the shots through its Protect Chicago At Home program, which brings the vaccines to people’s homes, with priority for those appointments going to people ages 65 and older, people who are homebound and those who live in certain ZIP codes. Appointments can be made at Chicago.gov/AtHome or by calling 312-746-4835.

Esperanza Health Centers, which has locations on the city’s Southwest Side, received its first shipment of about 200 doses Tuesday, said Dr. Mark Minier, medical director of pediatrics at Esperanza.

He said he expected the centers to receive more in coming days, at which point Esperanza will text patients widely letting them know the shots are available.

“It’s not just about the individual that’s getting the booster, it’s helping the whole community,” he said.