Trump Tower workers wrongly vaccinated by West Side hospital

The Loretto Hospital wrongly vaccinated 72 workers at Trump International Hotel & Tower last week at the request of West Side residents who work there and could not leave their jobs to get the vaccine, according to a hospital memo released Tuesday.

Hospital President & CEO George Miller also said in the memo that the Austin hospital was, at the time, “under the impression that restaurant and other frontline hospitality industry workers” were eligible for the vaccine in Chicago.

“I now understand, after subsequent conversations with the Chicago Department of Public Health, that we were mistaken,” Miller wrote.

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Hospitality workers won’t likely become eligible for the shots until March 29, when the city expects to expand who can get the shots.

Miller made clear in his memo that the vaccines used at Trump Tower came from Loretto’s allotment and were not taken from an allotment that is part of the Protect Chicago Plus program. That program targets residents in 15 communities on the South and West sides identified as “high-need” based on the city’s COVID vulnerability index.

Loretto spokeswoman Bonni Pear also confirmed Tuesday that Loretto Chief Operating Officer Anosh Ahmed owns a unit in Trump Tower. However, she said she was told by Miller that the decision to administer vaccines in the building was “his and his alone.”

Ahmed couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Pear said the hospital has delivered the vaccine to schools, churches, women’s shelters and a police precinct. But she acknowledged those visits all occurred on the South or West sides — and not in a downtown building like Trump Tower.

“This effort was one of multiple off-site community vaccination initiatives undertaken by The Loretto Hospital in accordance with its mission of ensuring vaccine accessibility to the minority communities hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the hospital said in a statement.

Block Club Chicago first reported Tuesday that workers had been vaccinated at the luxury tower on the Chicago River.

The Chicago Sun-Times obtained correspondence in which Trump Tower management acknowledged the event and claimed it was part of Protect Chicago Plus — a claim city officials denied.

“The city was not aware of a vaccine event at Trump Tower and we have reached out to them to find out more details,” the city said in an emailed statement Tuesday afternoon.

In the correspondence, Trump Tower management acknowledged a vaccine event occurred and claimed that a medical facility had reached out to it as part of Protect Chicago Plus. It noted that hotel workers are exposed not only to travelers, but to travelers’ personal spaces. It also claimed that Trump Tower had been selected for the program because of its mixed use as a hotel and condo tower.

The Trump Organization did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Contributing: Mary Chappell