As of Monday, January 25, 2021, Illinois has moved into Phase 1B of their COVID-19 vaccination plan. During this stage, vaccination priority will be given to Illinois residences over 65 and front-line workers such as firefighters, police, educators, manufacturing and grocery store employees. During this phase, the COVID-19 vaccine will be distributed to over two million people who fall into those groups. On average, 33k+ vaccinations are being administered daily throughout the state, and we hope that this number will continue to rise as more vaccines become available and the process of distribution is streamlined.

That being said, areas are rolling out mass vaccination sites around Illinois such as The Tinley Park Convention Center. Currently, there are seven of these types of sites in suburban cook county where the Illinois National Guard will help with rolling out the vaccine. A website has also been launched where residences can receive more information on where they can get a vaccine based on where they live and even make an appointment once one becomes available.

What does all this mean for beauty professionals and salon owners? Hopefully that the vaccination process will begin to speed up within the next few weeks. Currently, beauty professionals are in phase 2 of the vaccination process, which isn’t tentatively planned to begin until May 31. However, Cosmetologists Chicago has been working alongside lobbyist Jeff Glass to advocate for the salon and spa community by writing to Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker to prioritize licensed beauty professionals in phase 1C of the plan, which is tentatively scheduled to begin on March 29, 2021. We understand that even with all of the precautions licensed beauty professionals and salon owners are making, business is still down due to client’s general concern about the spread of Covid-19. We hope that if the Government reacts positively to our requests, licensed beauty professionals will be able to receive the vaccine during 1C.

Photo Source: www.chicago.gov

I realize that the end of May is still a bit of ways away, but with Chicago currently in Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois plan, this brings a lot of hope. As long as we continue to do the things that we are doing, such as mask-wearing, social distancing and abiding by the capacity rules outlined by our government, hopefully capacity limits will increase, and clientele will continue to grow within the salon and spa industry as the vaccine is distributed.

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