McHenry County Department of Health expands COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to include all of Phase 1b-plus

The McHenry County Department of Health on Monday announced it was expanding eligibility for COVID-19 vaccination appointments to all residents and workers in the county who qualify under Phase 1b Plus of the state’s rollout.

It also changed how eligible people should sign up for an appointment for a shot from the local health department.

The move to open up eligibility for a shot under Phase 1b Plus in the county health department’s vaccination plan means that anyone with a qualifying underlying health condition, as well as higher education staff, government and media workers, now can book an appointment, said Lindsey Salvatelli, spokeswoman for the McHenry County health department.

The expansion aligned with the timeline Gov. JB Pritzker announced earlier this month for county health departments across the state to make higher education, government and media workers eligible under Phase 1b Plus. Pritzker had said those groups would be able to get vaccinated starting Monday.

The health department followed the governor’s schedule to grow eligibility so people in Phase 1b Plus would have a window to set appointments before April 12, when Pritzker said everyone 16 and older will become eligible for a shot.

“It’s just opening it up for people who are eligible now to try and vaccinate them and accommodate them as quickly as we can before the state opens up to everyone 16 and older,” Salvatelli said.

The health department will be working as quickly as possible to vaccinate those in the enlarged Phase 1b Plus group before April 12, it said in the news release.

“We are very excited that the state is expanding the eligibility,” Theresa Hollinger, chief nursing officer at Mercyhealth, a hospital system with a facility in Harvard and another planned for Crystal Lake, said through a spokeswoman last week. “While those who ‘can’ get a vaccine is now much more open, and we hope to vaccinate all as vaccine becomes more available, it is the availability that seems to be the slow down. Availability and distribution to various states, counties and individual hospitals has been slow.”

People who are now eligible to receive a first dose of vaccine at a clinic run by the McHenry County health department no longer need to enroll in its email notification system and instead need to sign up through the state’s COVID-19 vaccine registration page at covidvaccination.dph.illinois.gov.

From that website, people seeking a vaccine need to complete a questionnaire to verify their vaccine eligibility.

Once at an appointment, people may be required to provide proof of employment as the priority group they registered under by using an employee identification, a recent letter from an employer or a recent pay stub, according to the state webpage. Appointments can be rejected if they were booked by someone ineligible during Phase 1b Plus.

In McHenry County, a photo ID and proof of residency or employment within the county must presented at a first-dose appointment. To receive a second dose, a photo ID and the vaccination card or record from the first dose appointment must be presented. If this information is not provided at the time of the appointment, the McHenry County health department can deny the vaccine, according to the release.

“The McHenry County health department has been doing a fantastic job with the availability of vaccine they have,” Hollinger said. “The complexities of proper storage, adjunct supplies and availability of individuals for registration, recordkeeping and vaccine administration have been managed well by our health department as well as our teams. Currently, we continue to complete our current [Phase] 1a and 1b groups with full schedules. We look forward to additional vaccine and available time slots. "

Those with no or limited internet access and those who need translation services can schedule an appointment through the McHenry County health department call center at 815-334-4045 or by calling the Illinois Department of Public Health hotline at 833-621-1284.

COVID-19 vaccinations at clinics run by the county health department still are by appointment only and limited to McHenry County residents and those who are employed at a business in the county.

“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,” McHenry County Public Health Administrator Melissa Adamson said in the release. “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.”