Mass Vaccination Site In Batavia To Give Out First Shots Friday

BATAVIA, IL — Kane County is set to open its first mass vaccination site Friday morning in Batavia.

County workers are converting 20,000 square feet of retail space at the former Sam’s Club in Batavia into a mass vaccination site that will be able to hold up to 10,000 people, Kane County Board Chair Corinne Pierog said on ABC 7 Chicago.

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The site will provide vaccinations from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. six days a week. Registration is set to open Thursday. The county is also setting up a bilingual call center to help people make vaccination appointments, Pierog said.

The Batavia site will provide vaccines to all Illinois residents who are eligible under the state's guidelines, the Elgin Courier-News reports.

The site is set to serve as the county’s main vaccination site through at least the end of October. Officials were eyeing a second mass vaccination site in Carpentersville but decided it would be more cost-effective to only run one site.

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Officials are working with school districts throughout the county and Pace to coordinate bussing to take residents for a vaccine, Pierog said.

Coronavirus vaccines are currently available to Illinois residents in Phases 1a and 1b. Kane County officials expect to expand vaccine eligibility to all adults on May 1, Pierog said.

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“We’re going to make sure that every door is going to be knocked, and everybody who would like to have a shot is going to be able to have one,” Pierog said.

Michael Isaacson, assistant director of community health at the Kane County Health Department, said officials are “excited to bring a stable, consistent” site to provide vaccines to residents, but they will “continue to put a special emphasis” on reaching out to residents who have struggled with the registration process, including seniors.

More than 60 percent of all seniors in Kane County have received at least the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, Isaacson said.

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Seniors who need help registering for a vaccine can call 211 for more information, with 15 Kane County organizations partnering with the health department to offer assistance. Health officials are reserving some appointments for seniors who are calling to schedule them, Isaacson said.

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