McHenry Co. Eyes More Mass Vaccination Sites

MCHENRY COUNTY, IL — McHenry County is hoping to have three mass vaccination sites up and running soon.

At the end of February, the county opened its first mass vaccination site in the former Kmart building, 1900 N. Richmond Avenue. Since then, the county has entered into an agreement with the Harvard Moose Family Center, 22500 IL Route 73, to get a clinic up and running in the northern portion of the county.

The Harvard clinic is also meant to assist "harder-to-reach" and "harder hit" populations, McHenry County Board chairman Mike Buehler said during a town hall meeting last week.

The county is also working with Willow Creek Community Church in Crystal Lake to open another site in "the very near future," Buehler said.

The addition of the two new mass vaccination sites are among the steps the health department is taking to address an anticipated spike in the already sky-high demand for appointments once the state opens up vaccinations to all on April 12.

Other than mass vaccination sites, residents can receive a vaccine at various retail pharmacies, regional healthcare systems and MCDH-run vaccination clinics.

On Monday, Gov. JB Pritzker announced more members of the Illinois National Guard would be headed to McHenry County to help the health department expand its local operations. McHenry County is one of six counties in the state where public health officials are looking to improve local vaccination rates and meet the public demand for safe and effective vaccines.

"The addition of the Illinois National Guard has allowed the McHenry County Department of Health to expand its mass vaccination site in the City of McHenry to six days per week speeding up the pace at which county residents and workers are getting vaccinated," said Melissa Adamson, Public Health Administrator at the McHenry County Department of Health.

The national guard will partner with the McHenry County Department of Health to provide equity-focused mobile vaccination teams meant to reach underserved communities.

Current projections show the county, which has fully vaccinated 13.63 percent of residents, is on track to get at least one shot to 40 percent of McHenry County residents by April 12–the date when the state is opening up vaccines to all 16 years old and older, Adamson said.

Also last week, MCDH announced it would start using the state's COVID-19 registration page for those interested in registering for their shot. You can check if you are eligible by taking the IDPH screening questionnaire.

Residents are encouraged to visit the site frequently as new appointments will be posted regularly and are expected to fill up quickly.

“As vaccine eligibility opens to residents age 16 and over, posting vaccination appointments on the state’s centralized scheduling hub will help all residents find and register for an appointment,” said MCDH Public Health Administrator Melissa Adamson. “If you do not see any appointments at our clinics, it means that all open appointments have been taken. Vaccinating a county takes time, so while eligibility is expanding, the demand for the vaccine is expected to be greater than what’s available.”

In addition, local healthcare systems are contacting eligible patients to schedule a COVID-19 vaccination based on available vaccine supplies. Participating healthcare systems include: Northwestern Medicine, MercyHealth and Advocate Aurora Health.

The following pharmacies in the county are receiving state and federal allotments of vaccines Jewel-Osco, Walgreens, Meijer Pharmacy, Mariano's Pharmacy and McHenry Community Health Center.

State and federal vaccination sites are also open at the United Center (Chicago), Carbondale Civic Center, Banterra Center in Carbondale and the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield.

The McHenry County Health Department also recommends checking these sites for:

• The state of Illinois' Vaccination Locator Map
• ILVaccine.org updates its website to reflect open appointments in Chicago's collar counties
  
• VaccineFinder.org allows you to search for COVID-19 vaccine by ZIP code and vaccine manufacturer

Those with no access or limited access to the internet and those who need translation services may schedule an appointment through the MCDH Call Center at (815) 334-4045 or by calling the Illinois Department of Public Health hotline at (833) 621-1284.

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