Thousands of seniors in Chicago public housing get their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine: ‘I can’t wait to see my family’ (Chicago Housing Authority)

Date Published: 
April 7th, 2021

From the Chicago Tribune:

For the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, dozens of people gathered in the community room at a public housing building for senior citizens in South Chicago.

The room had been turned into a COVID-19 vaccination clinic and each of them patiently waited to get their first dose of the vaccine.

The first thing 73-year-old Idalia Osorio is planning to do after she gets her second dose of the Moderna vaccine is have her family visit from Puerto Rico.

“I can’t wait to see my family,” Osorio said a few minutes after getting her vaccine Thursday morning at Mahalia Jackson Apartments, a public housing building for seniors that has been her home for three years.

The Chicago Housing Authority is providing vaccination clinics in all 44 CHA senior buildings across the city in partnership with the city Health Department, to ensure that all residents, their caretakers, and staff can get vaccinated against coronavirus.

Along with Osorio, roughly 90 other residents, the majority African American, got vaccinated Thursday at Mahalia Jackson, 9141 S. South Chicago Ave, making a total of almost 3,000 residents and staff vaccinated across the city, said Venis Frazier, director of senior services for the agency.

By the end of March, residents at all 44 senior CHA buildings are expected to have had the opportunity to get vaccinated on-site, Frazier said.

Read the Chicago Tribune's article "Thousands of seniors in Chicago public housing get their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine: ‘I can’t wait to see my family’," Chicago Housing Authority.

CLPHA Program(s): 
Topic(s): 
Resource type(s): 

Sorry, this content is only available to members.

If you're a member of CLPHA, please click here to log in.

If you have not created your CLPHA.org account, it’s easy to create one. Click here for step-by-step instructions.

You can also click here to watch a webinar site tour that shows CLPHA members how to create website accounts for themselves and provides an overview of the site's functionality.

Otherwise, we invite you to learn more about the many benefits of CLPHA membership.