Galesburg Reporter

As nine rural hospitals learned they'd receive more COVID-19 vaccinations from the state, soldiers with the Illinois National Guard have given a half-million shots to people who live in the state.

The Illinois National Guard surpassed 500,000 vaccinations administered the same weekend U.S. Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) visited one of their vaccination sites.

"I visited Rockford's community vaccination site to learn more about their vaccination process firsthand and thank all of the health care workers and Illinois National Guard for supporting our neighbors," Bustos said in a March tweet. "The American Rescue Plan will ramp up vaccine distribution to defeat this virus."

The state has deployed approximately 1,400 Illinois National Guard troops specifically for operations related to the pandemic, including 86 teams of soldiers participating in vaccination efforts at 39 locations across the state.

"It has been a historic year for the Illinois National Guard, and I could not be more proud of the soldiers and airmen who have answered the call to duty," Maj. Gen. Rich Neely, commander of the Illinois National Guard, told Kane County Connects.

The state also recently named the nine rural critical access hospitals that would be included in the Safety Net Direct Vaccine Allocation Pilot Program, which will mean hundreds of additional doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for each hospital on a weekly basis. Gov. J.B. Pritzker said providing more vaccines to those hospitals is part of their effort to meet communities already working to fight the virus through vaccines.

"Rural communities deserve the same protections from this virus that suburban and urban communities get," Pritzker told NBC Chicago.

The hospitals set to receive more vaccines from the state include Taylorville Memorial Hospital, Gibson Area Hospital, Hamilton Memorial Hospital, Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital, Genesis Medical Center Aledo, Hillsboro Area Hospital, Hopeful Medical Complex, Carle Hoopeston Regional Health Center, and Fairfield Memorial Hospital.

More than 900 vaccination sites are open to the public across the state and can be found on the state's coronavirus website.