COVID-19 vaccinations will resume Sunday at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville after they were paused due to four employees who suffered negative reactions.
The four employees are among approximately 6,000 Advocate employees who have received the vaccine so far.
Advocate Aurora Health Dr. Robert Citronberg said Saturday afternoon that health officials, including the CDC, Illinois Department of Public Health and Lake County Health Department, have reviewed the situation.
The agencies have agreed to resume vaccinations starting Sunday, according to Advocate Aurora Health. No other team members have reported any negative reactions to the vaccine.
Officials said that the vaccinations began on Thursday at Condell and were paused on Friday.
“Our site vaccination teams remain prepared to respond quickly and appropriately should anyone experience any kind of reaction. Out of an abundance of caution, we have increased our post-vaccine evaluation period to 30 minutes for all individuals across all our sites, which exceeds CDC/ACIP recommendations,” officials said on Saturday.
The adverse reactions included tingling and elevated heart rate, which occurred shortly after the injections.
Three of the company’s employees are home and doing well while the fourth employee is receiving additional treatment.
“Reactions are an expected side effect of vaccination. We are encouraged by our team members who are eager to get the vaccine to help protect themselves and others and bring an end to this pandemic,” the health group said in their statement.
Advocate Aurora Health has eight other vaccination locations in Illinois and three in Wisconsin. They are continuing the injections at those sites as planned with no disruption.