(Chicago, IL)  —  Illinois is scheduled to get its first shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine next week.  State Health Director, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, says it will still be a long process and she is asking for the public to remain patient.

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to grant emergency use authorization to the vaccine this week. One-hundred-nine-thousand doses of the Pfizer vaccine are expected to arrive in the coming days. It will first go to health care workers followed by people who live and work in long-term care facilities.