DuPage Medical Group to Be Among the First in DuPage County to Administer Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine

DOWN­ERS GROVE, Ill. — DuPage Med­ical Group (DMG), the largest inde­pen­dent, mul­ti-spe­cial­ty physi­cian group in Illi­nois, has received its ini­tial sup­ply of the Pfiz­er COVID-19 vac­cine and plans to admin­is­ter its first dose on Thurs­day, Decem­ber 17.

DMG will admin­is­ter the vac­cine to its front­line health­care work­ers who are at the high­est risk of expo­sure to COVID-19, includ­ing those who cur­rent­ly work in COVID-19 patient care units, have direct con­tact with COVID-19 patients, as well as those who will be admin­is­ter­ing the vaccine.

“This is a his­toric moment that will change the course of this pan­dem­ic,” said Don­na Coop­er, DMG Chief Oper­at­ing Offi­cer. ​“After months of prepa­ra­tion and col­lab­o­ra­tion with oth­er local health­care providers, state lead­ers and the DuPage Coun­ty Health Depart­ment, we’ve final­ly reached this impor­tant and excit­ing mile­stone in our fight against COVID-19. While there will still be many chal­leng­ing days ahead, this sig­ni­fies that hope is on the hori­zon for 2021.”

Fol­low­ing CDC guid­ance for vac­cine pri­or­i­ti­za­tion, DMG has plans in place to safe­ly vac­ci­nate its physi­cians, asso­ciates and patients once addi­tion­al sup­ply becomes available. 

“Vac­ci­nat­ing our care teams will ensure we’re able to con­tin­ue to pro­vide the care our patients and com­mu­ni­ties have come to rely on dur­ing this pan­dem­ic,” said Dr. Mia Taormi­na, infec­tious dis­ease physi­cian, chair of the infec­tious dis­ease depart­ment at DMG. ​“As an infec­tious dis­ease physi­cian, I’m high­ly con­fi­dent in the process that this vac­cine went through to ensure it is safe and effec­tive. We, as health­care providers, intend to lead by exam­ple in receiv­ing the vac­cine as soon as we are able to reas­sure every­one that it is safe and effective.”

In August, DMG proac­tive­ly pur­chased the ultra-cold freez­ers nec­es­sary to safe­ly and secure­ly store the Pfiz­er vac­cine. As a result, DMG will be stor­ing 100 per­cent of DuPage County’s first ship­ment of vac­cines. The DuPage Coun­ty Health Depart­ment will then be trans­port­ing the vac­cines to hos­pi­tals and health­care sys­tems in DuPage County.

“Our part­ner­ship with DuPage Med­ical Group is a reflec­tion of the way we con­duct busi­ness in DuPage Coun­ty. We are ded­i­cat­ed to col­lab­o­rat­ing with local part­ners to ensure that we meet the needs of our res­i­dents in the most effec­tive man­ner pos­si­ble. Hav­ing the sup­port of DuPage Med­ical Group in the ini­tial stages of vac­cine dis­tri­b­u­tion has been a life­line that we great­ly appre­ci­ate,” com­ment­ed Karen Ayala, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of the DuPage Coun­ty Health Department. 

“We’re proud to be at the fore­front of the COVID-19 response in the com­mu­ni­ties we serve,” said Don­ald Hoscheit, MD, DMG Chief Med­ical Offi­cer. ​“As we con­tin­ue our focus on the health and safe­ty of our com­mu­ni­ties, we’ve been work­ing tire­less­ly to ensure we’re pre­pared to safe­ly and secure­ly store the vac­cine and dis­trib­ute it to our communities.”

For the lat­est infor­ma­tion on the COVID-19 vac­cine and its avail­abil­i­ty, vis­it www​.duly​healthand​care​.com/​covid. DMG patients are encour­aged to set up a MyD­MG Health/​MyChart account, as it will be a require­ment for receiv­ing the COVID-19 vac­cine. DMG will also share impor­tant updates on the COVID-19 vac­cine with patients through text or email.

About DuPage Med­ical Group

DuPage Med­ical Group (DMG) is the largest inde­pen­dent, mul­ti-spe­cial­ty physi­cian group in Illi­nois with more than 750 pri­ma­ry care and spe­cial­ty care physi­cians in over 100 sub­ur­ban Chica­go loca­tions. For 20 years, DMG has focused on mak­ing health­care bet­ter for its patients and com­mu­ni­ties by offer­ing high qual­i­ty, com­pas­sion­ate health­care. As a physi­cian-led orga­ni­za­tion, DMG’s physi­cians work togeth­er – uti­liz­ing lead­ing-edge tech­nol­o­gy and inno­v­a­tive treat­ment options – to ensure that each patient receives acces­si­ble and effi­cient health­care. For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it www​.duly​healthand​care​.com.