Trump Tower staff reportedly vaccinated under Chicago program intended to immunize communities of color hardest hit by COVID-19

• Employees at Trump's Chicago hotel have reportedly been vaccinated under a program meant for hard-hit communities.
• Illinois is in the 1B phase, which doesn't include hotel workers.
• The Chicago Health Department is investigating the incident, Block Club Chicago reported.

Employees at Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago have been vaccinated for COVID-19 despite the fact hotel employees aren't yet eligible under the city's vaccination guidelines, Block Club Chicago reported Tuesday.

The report cited multiple sources that said a vaccination provider came to the tower, located in the River North Gallery District of the city, to provide staff with vaccinations in an event organized by the hotel on March 10.

Illinois is currently in its 1B phase of vaccinations, which includes frontline workers and people aged 65 or older. Hotel workers will be included in Chicago's 1C phase of vaccinations, expected to begin at the end of March, according to the city's health department.

The Trump Organization, which owns the hotel, did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.

A Trump Tower official said in a document obtained by the non-profit news outlet that the vaccination event occurred after it was contacted by a medical provider with Project Chicago Plus, a program announced in January and meant to target 15 neighborhoods on the city's south and west sides that have been hardest-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The program is especially targeted toward the city's Black and Latinx populations, the city said.

The hotel in downtown Chicago is not in one of the 15 neighborhoods included in the program.

As the outlet noted, some employees at the former president's hotel may be eligible for the vaccine under the city's guidelines, including employees who are older than 65 or employees with underlying medical conditions that qualify them to receive the shot.

One resident of Trump Tower told the outlet that several employees had said they'd been vaccinated over the past several months despite not appearing to fit vaccine eligibility criteria. Multiple employees told the outlet they'd been offered a vaccination.

An employee at the hotel's restaurant told the outlet that vaccines were administered on hotel property.

According to the report, the Chicago Department of Public Health is looking into reports of the vaccination event and said it hadn't been aware of any such event. Officials for the city of Chicago did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.