New Des Plaines site opens with single-dose COVID-19 vaccine
Tom Bucalo doesn't mind being one of the first in the state to get Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine.
The Hoffman Estates man said he was hoping to get the single-dose vaccine when he secured an appointment slot for Friday's opening day of the Cook County Health System's mass vaccination site in Des Plaines.
“Getting an appointment yesterday was a challenge. It was like getting tickets to a rock concert,” Bucalo said. “But I was hoping for (Johnson & Johnson). It's one shot, and I was more confident in what they were saying for the future, meaning the other variants.”
Chicago health officials reported its first case of a Brazilian COVID-19 variant Friday, noting that while this variant might spread faster, its arrival in Chicago won't change public health strategies or business operation policies.
The new vaccination site in Des Plaines is the first in the state to offer the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine rather than the Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech versions that require a two-dose regimen and ultracold storage. The new vaccine may be somewhat less effective at protecting against illness, but prevented hospitalization and death for all of the trial participants and performs well against certain new variants.
Roselle's Helen Baranowski said she would have preferred the other vaccines, but was fine getting the newer version in the end.
“Needles don't bother me, but if I can get one shot instead of two, that's good,” she said.
The new Des Plaines site at a former Kmart can handle upward of 3,500 vaccinations a day, but is expected to only inoculate about 1,900 daily until supplies of vaccines increase.
Appointment slots went fast when registration opened Thursday online. Some were luckier than others.
“I was hoping to jump on the appointment website right as it opened and get an appointment, but I wasn't anticipating how quickly they would be snapped up,” said Frank Ress of Arlington Heights. “By the time I realized my reactions would have to be lightning-fast, everything was gone.”
Meanwhile, 800 residents in Itasca, Roselle, Bloomingdale and Wood Dale who are 65 and older received word earlier this week they'll received their first dose of the Moderna vaccine Monday through a vaccination event coordinated by the Itasca Park District, neighboring park districts and villages through a partnership with Jewel-Osco.
“When we'd let these residents know they had an appointment I felt like Ed McMahon with a Publisher's Clearinghouse check, because they were so excited,” said Maryfran Leno, the park district's executive director. “And they'll all be automatically registered for their second shot on April 5 at the same time.”
Suburban congressional delegates on a conference call Friday were hopeful vaccination clinics like Itasca's will become more common in the weeks to come as supplies of vaccines become more bountiful.
“All of us are passionate about getting people vaccinated as quickly as possible, and when I say all, I mean all 435 members of Congress,” said Democratic U.S. Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove. “This is a massively complicated logistical problem that people are trying to figure out and get shots into the arms as fast as we can.”