Will County to open vaccination sites in Wilmington, Monee later this month

Will County officials announced two more mass vaccination sites will open later this month to reach residents in the eastern and southern parts of the county.

Mitch Schaben, the chief of staff to Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, told members of the Will County Board’s Executive Committee Thursday of plans for new sites. While the county executive’s office and Emergency Management Agency are still scouting more locations, they secured two key spots.

A clinic at Saint Rose Church in Wilmington will begin taking appointments the week of March 22, according to a news release. Another site at the former Second Place Church located off West Monee-Manhattan Road in Monee will start the week of March 29.

“The (county’s) focus of mass vaccination sites have been areas that are not currently being served by other providers,” Schaben said.

Will County board members from the more rural eastern and southern parts of the county have asked when their constituents would see clinics open closer to them.

“With this new vaccination clinic, our senior residents and frontline workers will have access right here in our community thanks to the collaboration among the Health Department and local leaders,” Will County Board member Judy Ogalla, R-Monee, said in the release.

Schaben said he hopes about 2,400 doses will be administered per day at each of the new sites, but that will ultimately depend on supply. County officials have reached out to the Illinois Department of Public Health director about what they see as a disproportionately low vaccine allocation. Steve Brandy, a spokesman for the Will County Health Department, said the county has yet to receive word on its first shipment of the recently authorized Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Like other mass vaccination sites in the county, residents will have to make an appointment after registering with the Will County Health Department.

Allison Anderson, the deputy director of the Will County EMA, said residents who have registered, are eligible to get their shot and who live in the area near each of sites will be the first contacted to set up an appointment.

Both sites will take residents by appointment only. To register for a vaccine, residents should sign up at willcountyhealth.org.

Those with questions should call the county’s COVID-19 hotline at 815-740-8977.

As of Friday, more than 168,000 shots have been administered in Will County, according to the IDPH. The number of shots administered in Will County each day has steadily risen to just over 5,000 per day. About 8.7% of the county’s total population has been fully vaccinated.