Coronavirus Mass Vaccination Site Opens In Crystal Lake

CRYSTAL LAKE, IL — McHenry County Department of Health on Wednesday opened its second indoor coronavirus vaccination site in a church in Crystal Lake.

Vaccines at the site, which is housed in Willow Creek Community Church, are available by appointment to people who live and work in McHenry County, the county's health department said in a news release.

Paul DeRaedt, chief of Crystal Lake's fire rescue department, told Patch the new site is set up in the same style as the county's other vaccination clinic at the former Kmart building in McHenry.

"The flow in the site works great," De Raedt said. "It runs very smoothly; the entire processs probably is 20 minutes max, and 15 minutes of that is just sitting and waiting."

The clinic was open Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and had a goal of distributing 100 doses of the vaccine every hour, he said.

"Everything went great," De Raedt said. "Willow Creek, which was very generous in offering their site, was tremendous. We’re very grateful or their generosity."

The fire chief said the site on Wednesday aimed to vaccinate 500 people. Future distributions will be based on the amount of vaccines the county receives.

"It’s all based on allotments from state of Illinois," he said. "Whether we open four or 10 sites, if the allotments are not there, you’re just going to get very small doses at each location."

McHenry County Health Department Administrator Melissa Adamson said the county intends to expand its vaccine offerings once the supply of vaccines increases.

“We are continuously looking at opportunities to expand the number of vaccination sites to meet the high demand for vaccine in McHenry County,” Adamson said in a statement. “As more vaccine begins to flow into the county, additional locations will open including drive-thru sites.”

Qualifying people who live and work in McHenry County can sign up for an appointment to receive the vaccine using the county's COVID-19 Vaccine Registration form. They can also call the county's COVID-19 call center at (815) 334-4045 or the Illinois Department of Public Health’s vaccine scheduling hotline at 1-833-621-1284 for help registering.

The McHenry County Department of Health did not immediately respond to a request for more information. This story could be updated.