CHICAGO — Mayor Lori Lightfoot received her first dose of a coronavirus vaccine during a livestreamed event Monday afternoon.
Lightfoot received a shot of the Pfizer vaccine. She’ll receive a second, final shot in several weeks. She received the shot as the city entered Phase 1B of its vaccination campaign.
During this phase, Chicagoans 65 and older and frontline workers — like government workers, in Lightfoot’s case — can be vaccinated.
“This is obviously an incredibly important milestone in our COVID-19 response journey,” Lightfoot said.
The mayor’s vaccine was administered by Dr. Allison Arwady, head of the Chicago Department of Public Health. She said the vaccine shot was similar to getting a flu shot several months ago.
Lightfoot said she felt fine afterward.
Lightfoot was joined by Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th) and other public officials. Sawyer said he thought it was important for him to be publicly vaccinated because he is a Black man and wanted to show other people of color the vaccines are safe. He said he had “no problem” with his shot.
“We can continue to have a discussion about health disparities in America, but this is something that’s overwhelmingly important,” Roderick said. “… Vaccines save lives.”
Arwady was also vaccinated publicly in late December. She also publicly received her second shot of the vaccine.
More than 140,000 vaccine doses have been administered in Chicago.
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