Eric Trump and Trump Tower Chicago employees receive coronavirus vaccines intended for high-risk minority communities. The Chicago Department of Public Health announces an investigation about a week later.
Loretto Hospital decided to vaccinate Trump Tower workers despite the fact that the doses were reserved for minority communities.
The vaccination event at the Downtown tower, 401 N. Wabash Ave., comes as many in Chicago who are eligible to be vaccinated and most at risk from COVID-19 are still struggling to find an appointment and get their shots.
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The hospital claims that they believe the workers are eligible but later admit that they are wrong. An executive at Trump Tower says they were contacted directly and offered the vaccines, which were administered inside the building.
Loretto Hospital COO Anosh Ahmed lives in a condo in the Trump building. In the weeks that follow, news breaks that the misuse of vaccines was discovered after Ahmed sent a picture bragging that he had vaccinated Eric Trump. He later claims that he was joking.
Ahmed resigns on March 24 after new reports that he directed vaccines to other downtown companies besides Trump Tower.
Loretto is a small hospital intended to serve (and vaccinate) residents west of Chicago, not downtown.
While it’s possible employees could individually be vaccinated in Chicago for other reasons — like if they have a second job where they’ve been deemed a frontline worker, if they’re 65 or older or if they live in a Protect Chicago Plus community — those criteria would not apply to the Trump Tower organization vaccinating a broad swath of employees Downtown.
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Photo: Peter Handke