Dupage Policy Journal

Shortly after the COVID-19 vaccine was introduced, ten doses were delivered to the Bloomingdale home of DuPage County lawyer and candidate for state representative Azam Nizamuddin.

NBC 5 Chicago reported they were delivered during what Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot described as a "critical time period," and that the ten vaccine doses came out of an allocation given to Loretto Hospital, which serves impoverished Chicagoans on its West Side.

NBC 5 reported Dr. Ali Ahmed, president and CEO of Affinity Health and a Nizamuddin relative, took the vaccines and a nurse to Nizamuddin's home.

Affinity had been overseeing early COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials at Loretto.

According to NBC 5, an elderly woman was among the people vaccinated in Nizamuddin's home with the doses taken from Loretto. NBC 5 said it was unable to independently confirm the hospital's claim that she and other unidentified recipients were eligible to receive the doses, due to health privacy laws.

Prior to the media coverage of vaccinations at Nizamuddin's home, Loretto had learned that the city of Chicago was pulling the hospital's vaccination doses in the wake of other reported scandals.

In Dec. 2020, Lightfoot had chosen Loretto as the site for "Chicago's ceremonial first COVID-19 vaccination." But she pulled all doses from the hospital after the other scandals and directed them to Rush University.

Lightfoot slammed Loretto as "deceptive" 

"They repeatedly failed to hold up their end of the bargain," Lightfoot said. "And so now they're dealing with the consequences of those actions."

Loretto's CEO, George Miller, was suspended for two weeks without pay in the aftermath of the other scandals.

Nizamuddin is running in the newly-created 48th Illinois House District, which includes parts of Bloomingdale, Roselle, Medinah, Itasca, Wood Dale, Addison, Elk Grove Village, Keeneyville and Carol Stream. He is running against Republican Jennifer Sanalitro of Hanover Park, a sales executive.

Last week, Nizamuddin was named managing partner of Martoccio & Martoccio, a Hinsdale divorce and personal injury-focused law firm. He has previously served as adjunct professor of Islam at Loyola University of Chicago and Elmhurst College.

In Nov. 2020, Nizamuddin lost his race for DuPage County (18th Judicial Circuit) Judge to Wheaton Republican Richard D. Felice, winning 49.68 percent of the vote (229,670 votes) to Felice's 50.32 percent (232,660).

Election Day is Tues. Nov. 8.

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Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect that Loretto's CEO George Miller was suspended without pay, not Dr. Ali Ahmed, as was previously reported.