Cook County officials have announced the opening of a third large-scale COVID-19 vaccination site at South Suburban College in South Holland. This site will serve individuals eligible under Phase 1b, which includes people aged 65 and older and essential workers such as first responders, manufacturing employees, and grocery store staff.
According to county officials, an estimated 600,000 suburban residents are eligible for the vaccine in this phase. However, they caution that there is currently not enough vaccine supply to meet the demand.
“While current vaccine supply does not meet the demand and in fact has been exhausted – we are standing up large scale sites now to ensure that we are ready as vaccine supply is expected to increase in the weeks and months ahead,” said Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.
The new site at South Suburban College follows earlier openings at Tinley Park Convention Center on January 26 and Triton College on February 2. When sufficient vaccine doses become available, Cook County Health expects to provide more than 4,000 vaccinations per week at the new location. To date, nearly 70,000 doses have been administered by Cook County Health.
Frank M. Zuccarelli, Chairman of the South Suburban College Board of Trustees, commented on the collaboration: “The South Suburban College Board of Trustees and our executive leadership team are proud to collaborate with Cook County to provide a safe, convenient, COVID-19 vaccination site right here at our main campus in South Holland. We applaud President Preckwinkle, the Board of Commissioners and medical professionals of Cook County Health for your tireless efforts to protect our community.”
All vaccinations at Cook County Health sites require appointments. Appointment slots will be added as new shipments arrive; however, due to depleted supplies no new appointments can be made at this time.
“We are equally as frustrated as the community with the lack of vaccine that has been distributed. We are asking Cook County residents for their continued patience as we work to ramp up one of the largest County-operated vaccine programs in the country,” said Israel Rocha, CEO of Cook County Health.
When more vaccines become available, appointment information will be posted online at vaccine.cookcountyil.gov or by phone at (833) 308-1988 during business hours Monday through Friday.
Vaccines have also been distributed by the Cook County Department of Public Health to over 90 partner locations including pharmacies like Jewel-Osco and Walgreens as well as hospitals and health centers. These locations also require appointments for vaccination. Additional sites can be found via the Illinois coronavirus website.
County officials plan to open more large-scale vaccination sites across suburban areas depending on future vaccine availability. They advise that moving through each phase depends on how much vaccine is received.
Residents who are not yet eligible may register online for updates about their eligibility phase or information about other vaccination locations throughout Cook County.
