Cook County is releasing thousands of first-dose COVID vaccine appointments Wednesday for five suburban vaccination sites in Des Plaines, Forest Park, Riverside and more.
Cook County Health officials said approximately 16,000 new first-dose Pfizer appointments will be made available at 12 p.m. on Wednesday. The appointments will be open to all Illinois residents eligible under the state’s vaccination plan in Phases 1A, 1B and 1B Plus.
Appointments can be made on the Cook County vaccine website or by calling the county's hotline at (833) 308-1988 on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The appointments will be for four of the five total mass vaccination sites in suburban Cook County. Those four sites are:
- South Suburban College, 15800 State St. in South Holland
- Triton College, 2000 5th Ave. in River Grove
- A former K-Mart at 1155 E Oakton St in Des Plaines
- Former HOBO at 7600 West Roosevelt Road in Forest Park
Appointments opening Wednesday will also be available at the county's vaccination clinic at North Riverside Health Center, located at 1800 S. Harlem Ave. in Riverside.
Cook County moved to Phase 1B Plus - where much of the rest of Illinois is - of COVID vaccinations on Monday. That expands eligibility to residents 16 years of age or older with specific health conditions like cancer, chronic kidney disease, COPD, diabetes, heart conditions, immunocompromised from an organ transplant, obesity, pulmonary disease and sickle cell disease, as well as individuals with disabilities, pregnant women and smokers.
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For a complete look at who is eligible to receive the COVID vaccine and when in Illinois, click here.
All vaccine providers in suburban Cook County have been asked to move to Phase 1B Plus beginning Monday, as have the mass vaccination sites.
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The mass vaccination sites were previously only administering vaccine allocated for Cook County, but the Cook County Department of Public Health said that beginning this week, they will receive additional vaccine supply to enable the sites to serve all eligible Illinois residents.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker last week announced that all Illinois residents age 16 and older outside the city of Chicago will become eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine next month. The following day, he announced that more essential workers would become eligible ahead of that expansion.
For a complete look at how to make a COVID vaccine appointment in Illinois, click here.
