Chicago's Loretto Hospital gave shots to people on lawmaker's lists 

An influential state legislator who is also an executive at Loretto Hospital provided the safety-net provider on Chicago's West Side with lists of individuals to be vaccinated against COVID-19, outside the normal protocols for obtaining shots.

Crain's has obtained lists of 85 names that sources say were sent to the hospital by state Rep. Camille Lilly. She has served in the legislature since 2010, representing West Side neighborhoods in the city of Chicago and near west suburbs, and has been a leader in legislative matters related to healthcare. She is also chief external affairs officer at Loretto.

A person familiar with Loretto’s vaccination program tells Crain’s that most of the people on the list came to the hospital and got vaccinated, despite not having made an appointment online or by phone, as members of the general public seeking vaccines are required to. The person says that many individuals on lists brought others along for shots.

The episode is another chapter in the rapidly-unfolding drama at Loretto, which has drawn fire for improper vaccination events at the Trump Tower, a suburban church 17 miles away from the hospital, a luxury jewelry store, and for Cook County judges, as reported by Block Club Chicago and WBEZ.

The vaccination of individuals based on a list provided by a leading political figure raises new questions about the fairness of the vaccine distribution process in Chicago, where many people who are eligible for vaccines have struggled to obtain vaccination appointments in the city with doses in short supply.

There has been concern that Loretto may have been vaccinating people who aren't yet eligible for vaccinations under the phased system for allocating scarce coronavirus vaccines. Lilly's lists include columns with name, age, phone number and essential worker status, but some of the lists only include a portion of that information. The words "Phase 1B" appears next to every name. 

Of the 39 entries that include ages, 14 are under 65 and 25 are over 65. In the city of Chicago, where Loretto is located, phase 1B covered people 65 and older and frontline essential workers. It’s not clear who were eligible as frontline essential workers, as only 10 total entries were marked “essential.”

Nearly two dozen names are staff from two Catalyst Charter Schools located in Austin and on the city’s Southwest Side.

"No such list exists. Period," said Becky Carroll, a spokeswoman for the hospital. "Rep. Lilly, like other community partners, curated names of frontline workers and residents from Austin and the greater West Side to get them signed up and into the registration system to be vaccinated."

Carroll said the hospital recruited frontline workers and residents "to continue protecting our community from this deadly virus and close vaccination access gaps facing Black and Brown Chicagoans.”

Lilly is one of several politicians linked to the hospital. State Rep. LaShawn Ford, a board member, stepped down from the board Tuesday.

State Sen. Kimberly Lightford, the vice-chair of Loretto, said today that the board is figuring out what needs to be done to move forward from the controversy surrounding the hospital, but that it stands behind CEO George Miller. 

Dr. Anosh Ahmed resigned from his post as Loretto’s COO and CFO in the wake of the safety net’s vaccine controversy. Vaccination events took place at Trump Tower, where Ahmed has lived for about five years; at a Gold Coast watch shop where the COO is a frequent customer; and at a Gold Coast steakhouse where Ahmed is a regular, according to Block Club Chicago.

“There’s a lot at stake,” Lightford said, noting that Loretto, which serves large numbers of low-income patients, is the largest employer in the Austin community. She added that board chair Edward Hogan and Mayor Lori Lightfoot spoke last night, after the mayor had called for an independent audit into Loretto's dose administration.

“We were given a week's time that we were going to do a full-on investigation,” she said, adding that a full report is expected in two or three days.

A union representative who works with Loretto staff told WTTW this week that members had complained about so-called VIP lists of vaccine recipients since January. "Certain groups would be pushed to the side, even when there was a long line," Wellington Thomas, an emergency room technician, told WTTW. 

"There were never any such VIP lines, unless people consider the occasional moving of a senior or people who experience chronic pain and have difficulty standing in line for an hour to the front of the line as VIPs but aside from that they didn’t exist," Carroll said.

Lilly declined to comment and referred questions to Carroll.