Two new coronavirus mass vaccination sites opened Friday in DuPage and Kane counties, Illinois health officials announced.
Mass vaccinations sites at the DuPage County Fairgrounds in Wheaton and at the old Sam's Club in Batavia opened Friday for suburban residents, expanding the governor's vaccine outreach program.
“Since day one, our Illinois COVID-19 Vaccination Plan has been an all-hands-on-deck effort, and as the national supply has expanded, so too has the number of locations Illinoisans can get vaccinated – already above 900, and growing,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said.
Both sites will offer the COVID-19 vaccine to all Illinois residents, regardless of ZIP code, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
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The Kane county vaccination site is located at 501 N. Randall Rd. in Batavia and can administer up to 750 doses. In DuPage County, the vaccinations site can be found at 2015 Manchester Rd in Wheaton, which can administer up to 1,000 doses.
To book an appointment for the Kane county mass vaccination site, click here.
To book an appointment for the DuPage county mass vaccination site, click here.
As part of Illinois' rural vaccination program, officials also announced Friday that a vaccination site in Moultrie County opened, located at Building 1225 on 1225 S. Hamilton St. in Sullivan.
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As of Friday, 800 doses are available at the Sullivan location for county residents only, according to officials. To book an appointment, click here.
Next week, several more vaccination sites are set to open as part of the rural vaccination program in the following counties: Edwards, Lawrence, Cumberland, Edgar and Stephenson.
The expansion comes just one day after Pritzker announced eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine will expand to all Illinois residents over the age of 16, except for those in the city of Chicago, beginning on April 12.
Pritzker and IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike made the announcement during a COVID-19 update in which he also unveiled a new framework for the state's reopening plan.
All Illinois residents over the age of 16 will be eligible to get vaccinated beginning on April 12, Pritzker said, adding that state officials in the coming days would make available more information on certain populations that will become eligible before that final expansion.
All vaccinations will remain by appointment only, officials said, noting that "making an appointment to receive a shot may take time."
Pritzker's office also noted that residents who are not currently eligible to receive the vaccine cannot yet schedule an appointment for a future date, asking for patience in the days and weeks after April 12 as appointments "may be limited."
For a complete look at where and how you can make an appointment in Illinois or where you can receive vaccine information for your area, click here.
Illinois entered what's called Phase 1B Plus of its vaccine rollout plan late last month, expanding eligibility to individuals with certain high-risk medical conditions and comorbidities. That's in addition to the already-eligible health care workers and long-term care facility staff and residents who qualified in Phase 1A, plus the frontline essential workers as well as residents age 65 and older who became eligible in the earlier iteration of Phase 1B.
For a full look at who's eligible to get vaccinated in Phase 1B Plus, click here.
But when the state entered Phase 1B Plus, several jurisdictions, including the city of Chicago, suburban Cook County and several other counties in the area, announced that they would not expand eligibility along with the rest of Illinois, citing low vaccine supply.
