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Vaccinations Tuesday at Lake County Fairgrounds: What you need to know

Lake County will begin administering COVID-19 vaccines Tuesday at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Grayslake for health care workers who are signed up.

A date has not been set to begin vaccinations for people age 65 and older and essential workers, who are in so-called Phase 1b, according to Hannah Goering, spokesperson for the Lake County Health Department.

Goering explains how vaccination will work in Lake County. Other suburban counties have plans that are similar but may not be identical.

Q: Who gets vaccinated Tuesday?

A: We continue to vaccinate Phase 1a health care workers. Our vaccine supply is limited and we continue to focus on completing this phase. There are health care workers still receiving their first shots and others now getting their second shots.

Q: What is the first date for Phase 1b?

A: There is not a set date for this to begin in Lake County. When we receive vaccine and have appointments available for people in Phase 1b, people who are registered in AllVax (https://allvax.lakecohealth.org) will be notified that they can schedule an appointment.

Q: Will people in 1b who work for big companies in Lake County get the shots first?

A: We are one public health system, and our goal is to vaccinate as many people as possible. We continue to offer vaccination clinics through the health department, and as we approach the next phase, we will be prioritizing certain populations to assure equitable distribution of the vaccine. When we reach Phase 1b, we will also be redistributing vaccine to as many partners as possible to get as many shots distributed as quickly as we can. Some corporations with occupational health teams in Lake County will have the capability to vaccinate their own staffs through their own closed point of dispensing. We encourage everyone to be patient and please be assured that everyone will be able to get the vaccine, and this process will take several months.

Q: Drugstores and others are offering vaccine signup. Will signing up at all these spots help my chances?

A: We ask all residents to sign up in the AllVax system, which will notify them when they are eligible to get their vaccine. Registering in AllVax does not mean you are obligated to get your vaccine through the health department, so if another pharmacy or health care provider has availability during your phase, you can choose to go there after your phase arrives. There will be a point in which people will be able to get their vaccine through a local health care provider or pharmacy. We are not there yet.

Q: When people get a vaccine, are they given an appointment time for the second vaccine?

A: No. They are notified approximately one week before their second dose is due to schedule their next appointment.

Q: How long will the fairgrounds be used to provide vaccines? Will AllVax registrants also be directed elsewhere or are the fairgrounds the only location at this point?

A: We anticipate using the fairgrounds at least into April.

For now, we are providing vaccines as we have the supply to do so, three to four days per week from one location. As vaccine supply increases, additional times and locations will be added.

We are using the fairgrounds at this time because it provides a centralized location where we can provide vaccines in the drive-through format during the coldest months. Additional locations will open in the future as our vaccine supply increases.

Q: How many vaccines do you expect to be able to administer in a given day and who will be administering them?

A: Our current vaccine supply allows for us to vaccinate approximately 400 people per day, a few days per week at the health department's point of dispensing. Health department staff, Medical Reserve Corps and other volunteers are administering vaccines.

Where to register if you live outside Lake County

Outside Lake County, register for vaccination at these sites:

Cook: https://cookcountypublichealth.org/communicable-diseases/covid-19/covid-vaccine/

DuPage: https://www.dupagehealth.org/667/COVID-19-Vaccine

Kane: https://www.kanehealth.com/Pages/COVID-Vaccine.aspx

McHenry: mchenrycountyil.gov/county-government/departments-a-i/health-department

Will: <URL destination="https://willcountyhealth.org/covid-19/covid-vaccine/">https://willcountyhealth.org/covid-19/covid-vaccine/

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