CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Governor JB Pritzker joined state and Cook County leaders Monday morning to announce a new mass vaccination site in Forest Park set to open Friday.
"It's an exciting expansion of vaccine access here in Cook County," Pritzker said.
The new mass vaccination site is located in the former HOBO store at 7630 Roosevelt Road. The Illinois National Guard will operate the center and will administer 1,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine per day at launch; then ramp up to nearly 5,000 doses per day.
"And it will serve as yet another mass vaccination site open to all eligible residents - no matter their zip code." Pritzker said, "With ample parking and close proximity to communities hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic, this site will play a critical role in our continued efforts to vaccinate our most vulnerable residents, such as those with pre-existing conditions.
“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 at."
The Forest Park location is now one of five state-supported mass vaccination sites in Cook County.
“With this location in Forest Park, we have now strategically established three of our largest mass vaccination sites open to all eligible Illinoisans at Tinley Park in the southwest, this location in the western suburbs, and Des Plaines in the northwest - meaning our highest density in Cook and collar county communities all have a convenient state-supported option for getting vaccinated," Pritzker said.
It will be the 14th mass vaccination site opened by the state.
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“Thanks to our exemplary [National] Guard, the 900 vaccination sites across the state and the great work of our 97 local public health departments and healthcare professionals, Illinois has administered now over 4.7 million doses of the life-saving COVID-19 vaccines," Pritzker said.
“So far nearly one in three adult residents already has been vaccinated, including more than 64 percent of our seniors 65 and older.”
Illinoisans eligible to receive the vaccine can make an appointment for any of Cook County’s mass vaccination sites at vaccine.cookcountyil.gov.
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