The site, located on Oakton Street, not far from O’Hare Airport, is one of the first to offer the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Appointments for the Des Plaines Mass Vaccination Site can be made at vaccine.cookcountyil.gov or by phone at (833) 308-1988. The site will be open Monday to Friday from 07:00 to 19:00
“Today, with our opening, we are very excited to say that we are offering 800 vaccination slots today,” said Ratna Kanumury of Cook County Health.
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Jack Alberts, 83, was moved when he arrived for his appointment, reflecting on how hard it was not to see his grandchildren.
“I haven’t seen my grandchildren … excuse me … for over a year and that’s kind of hard,” he said.
Alberts, like many others, hurried to make an appointment when Cook County Health opened them on Thursday. All 18,000 seats were booked in a few hours.
Jill Walsh is a healthcare instructor who thought she would administer the vaccine before she was able to receive it, but was lucky enough to get an appointment on the opening day of the site.
“I was going to wait for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and I didn’t expect to get it until this summer, so when it became available locally, I was thrilled,” she said.
Scott Rovner felt he had won the lottery when he finally got an online slot.
“When it broke out, it was like, ‘Oh, my God, I took a date,'” Royner said. “I happened to be free today, so everything worked out.”
Kevin Schneider is a student who works at McDonald’s and will celebrate his 19th birthday this weekend as a vaccinated man.
“It’s like a weight on my chest, I feel much safer,” he said.
The new Des Plaines site is intended only for residents of Cook County and becomes the first large-scale vaccination site in the state to administer the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
“It’s a single-dose vaccine that is 100% safe and effective in preventing death,” Kanumury said.
Cook County Health says that as the site grows, it will be able to offer 2,800 slots on a given day.
At the moment, four teams of the National Guard consisting of 18 members support his effort.
The focus is on vaccinating people aged 65 and over, health workers and basic staff and essential staff before opening up to the general population.
“The federal government has assured us that they will be able to provide enough vaccine to anyone who wants to receive the vaccine by the end of May,” Kanumury said.
Cook County Health says it still doesn’t know when they will offer more meetings for this current phase. They said it would depend on vaccine deliveries.
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