A state board on Tuesday unanimously rejected a plan to close Mercy Hospital in the Bronzeville neighborhood.
The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board voted 6-0 after about four hours of testimony from dozens of community members, activists, doctors and nurses all of whom called for the board to reject Trinity Health’s request.
Trinity Health said it was disappointed by the board’s vote.
“We will look forward to going before the board again in early 2021 with our plans to discontinue inpatient services at Mercy Hospital and transition to an outpatient model to serve residents on the South Side of Chicago,” Trinity Health said in a statement.
PEORIA â In a historic moment, health care workers in Chicago and Peoria on Tuesday became the first groups in Illinois to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, marking what Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike called âthe beginning of the endâ of the pandemic.
The vaccine, developed by the drug companies Pfizer and BioNTech, was granted Emergency Use Authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week and is now being shipped throughout the United States. Early studies have shown that after two doses that are given 21 days apart, the vaccine is 95% effective in preventing the disease.