Ask your county health department to prioritize library workers in the vaccine rollout.
The Illinois Library Association has sent a letter to Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, asking her to include library workers in Phases 1b and 1c of the Illinois COVID-19 vaccine rollout plan. Similarly, you can help advocate at your county/region level by using ILA's template letter and sending it to your library's health department.
As the state-level letter says, school librarians are licensed educators, and public librarians provide many of the same services as other entities already covered in Phase 1b and 1c. As the availability of public, in-person library services has been determined on a local rather than statewide basis, it is critical that local libraries reach out to county health departments to advocate for our librarians.
Please take a few minutes today to download and customize the template. A quick web search for "[county] health department" will help you locate the right contact information for your area's health department.