WILL COUNTY VACCINATIONS TRIPLE, 25.36% OF RESIDENTS ARE FULLY VACCINATED

The Will County Executive and Will County Health Department (WCHD) today announced that in the past six weeks, Will County has tripled the number of fully vaccinated individuals from 7.10 percent on March 9 to 25.36 percent on April 23 – moving the county to the sixth most vaccinated county in Illinois, up from 90th in the same time period.

“Together we have made great progress in the past six weeks to increase access to vaccinations which has been key to increasing our numbers,” said County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant. “We’ve opened more vaccination clinics, moved to open online scheduling and engaged in community outreach to reach special populations – but our work is far from over.”

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), Will County has administered 438,749 vaccines. To date, 175,548 individuals or 25.36 percent of the county’s 692,310 population have been fully vaccinated.

“We are administering nearly 8,000 vaccines a day in Will County,” said Sue Olenek, Executive Director of the Will County Health Department. “Approximately 48 percent of our population over the age of 18 have received at least one dose of the vaccine.”

The County also announced new efforts to get residents age 16-18 vaccinated by dedicating three vaccination clinics to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, which the FDA has authorized to prevent COVID-19 in individuals 16 years of age and older under.

These clinics are:

JOLIET MONEE WILMINGTON

Vaccine Clinic at Toys R Us Monee Vaccination Clinic St. Rose School

3128 Voyager Lane 6370 Emerald Parkway 626 S Kankakee St.

“In addition to dedicating these clinics to Pfizer, we are streamlining the online scheduling process by eliminating the voucher codes at these locations,” said Olenek. “And the Toys R Us location is now accepting walk-ins at their Tuesday-Sunday clinics.”

Will County residents can schedule online at http://www.willcountyhealth.org. All WCHD locations are listed with direct links to the online scheduling as well as the partner locations including Walgreens, Jewel-Osco, Meijer, Mariano’s, Oak Street Health, Aunt Martha’s and Kodocare. In many cases there are same day appointments available.

There is a scheduling help line for individuals who have trouble accessing the online schedule. Residents can call 815-774-7386 to schedule an appointment Monday -Friday 8:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

“We have momentum in our favor,” said Bertino-Tarrant. “Everyone in Will County should feel proud of our progress, but we need to continue practicing COVID-19 safety measures to keep the positivity rate low and protect each other against COVID-19.”

Will County is at a 6.3 percent positivity rate on a seven day rolling average which has been increasing over the past three weeks. All residents are asked to continue to wear your mask, wash your hands, watch your distance and get vaccinated.