McHenry County Department of Health to phase out Crystal Lake clinic in coming weeks

As demand drops and other counties have begun closing some COVID-19 vaccination sites, McHenry County Department of Health is also switching up its approach.

The McHenry County Department of Health plans to phase out the clinic offered at Willow Creek Community Church in Crystal Lake in “the coming weeks” but will keep the clinic at the former Kmart in McHenry, department spokeswoman Lindsey Salvatelli said in an email.

“Plans are pivoting and moving forward to mobile locations throughout the county,” Salvatelli said.

The change comes as the state focuses on “bringing vaccine to more and more doctor’s offices, pharmacies, urgent care clinics, and even directly into the community through mobile clinics that visit workplaces, neighborhood organizations, nonprofits and religious groups,” Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement.

Wednesday marked the first day McHenry County Department of Health staff, with the help of first responders, began vaccinating homebound residents in their homes, Salvatelli said last week.

Before the Crystal Lake site is retired, though, the health department plans to hold clinics there as well as at its office in Woodstock, she said. The health department held Johnson & Johnson clinics May 21 and 24 in Woodstock.

The health department has not held a clinic at the Harvard Moose Family Center in Harvard in at least a month, Salvatelli said. The Harvard Moose Family Center rolled out as a vaccination site in March and the clinic in Crystal Lake opened about a month later.

The McHenry County Department of Health’s plans come as other suburban health departments also scale back the number of vaccination sites they offer.

Last week, Cook County Health officials retired vaccination locations in Tinley Park, South Holland and River Grove while keeping open sites in Forest Park, Des Plaines and Matteson, the Daily Herald reported. The Lake County Health Department intends shut down its largest site, at the fairgrounds in Grayslake, on June 14.

About 40% of McHenry County’s residents are fully vaccinated, on par with neighboring Lake and Kane counties. Just over 35% of Boone and DeKalb county residents are vaccinated while 44% of suburban Cook County’s are. DuPage County leads the collar counties with 49% of residents fully vaccinated.