Hundreds Of Joliet Teachers Get Coronavirus Vaccines: Photos

JOLIET, IL — Off-duty volunteers from the Joliet Fire Department have taken over the Joliet West High School field house, where they will give thousands of Joliet area educators the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. About 300 school employees from Joliet Township High School District 204, Rockdale, Laraway and Elwood waited their turn to receive their doses of the vaccine Tuesday afternoon.

Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Carey is overseeing this week's effort. Carey told Joliet Patch that he expects to be administering the coronavirus vaccines for several weeks to come.

"We're moving the line faster than we thought, so we're trying to get some more teachers in today," Carey remarked.

Teachers from the Troy consolidated school district are also being allowed to get the vaccine this week as openings arise, Carey said.

"We're trying to get the teachers done so the kids get back in school," Carey said.

Elsewhere in Will County, teachers from Frankfort received the vaccine at Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox Tuesday.

Once all the teachers are done, Carey said the Joliet firefighters plan to start vaccinating senior citizens.

This week, Joliet area teachers are getting vaccinated from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and from 1 to 5 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday, inside the Joliet West field house.

Joliet Mayor Bob O'Dekirk visited the clinic Tuesday afternoon to monitor the progress. O'Dekirk planned to talk about the effort at Tuesday night's council meeting.

"I'm really impressed with the effort by Fire Chief Greg Blaskey and Deputy Chief Carey," he said.

O'Dekirk said it's important to remind everyone that the Joliet firefighters administering the Moderna vaccines were not being pulled away from their regular fire stations, nor were they being paid overtime to be at the Joliet West field house.

"These are all off-duty volunteers who are stepping up to get this done," O'Dekirk said. "It's really amazing."

Joliet City Councilwoman Jan Quillman gave the Moderna vaccine to dozens of Joliet area teachers Tuesday afternoon.

"I'm here as an R.N., not as a political person," Quillman told Joliet Patch.

Everyone receiving the Moderna vaccine is expected to wait at least 28 days before getting their second vaccination shot, Carey said. He predicted next week will be extremely busy.

That's because teachers and staff with Plainfield district 202, along with Joliet's grade school district 86, will visit the Joliet West field house to get their vaccination shots.

"Next week, we're planning on 34 schools and day cares," Carey said. "Our big one is Plainfield consolidated. Our plan is to do two long days because we want to get to the 65 and older" as soon as possible.

How were things going Tuesday? "We're moving faster than we thought," Carey said.

Dr. Jon Strotkamp, an emergency room doctor at AMITA Health Saint Joseph Medical Center, was overseeing the distribution of the Moderna doses at the Joliet West field house.

"For the first week for everyone, we're doing smaller numbers to get our feet wet," he said, adding that the plan is to administer "a couple thousand" vaccinations per day in the weeks ahead.

Carey said the vaccination effort at Joliet West High School is a four-way partnership involving the Joliet Fire Department, Will County Health Department, Joliet High School Township District 204 and AMITA Health.

Joliet's mayor remarked, "Thank you to all our volunteers. We're really happy with the way things are going."