CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A long-empty big box store is set to become a mass COVID vaccination site in McHenry County.
McHenry County officials will turn over the keys Friday afternoon to the McHenry County Health Department for the old Kmart, at 1900 N. Richmond Road, in McHenry.
Officials said the 87,000-square-foot former Kmart store has been vacant for 12 years, but has been converted into a mass vaccination site in just 11 days.
Public Health Administrator Melissa Adamson said the site will be capable of giving out 1,000 COVID vaccine doses every hour, but that means vaccine supplies would have to increase dramatically. Right now, vaccine shipments are down.
“The next three weeks, our focus is going to be on second doses for those in the [Phase] 1A and the [Phase] 1B who have already been vaccinated,” Adamson said. “Our first dose supply, though, over the next three weeks is expected to be lower ... so we are going to be getting around 900 doses for first vaccines each week for the next three weeks.”
County residents 65 and older will be prioritized to receive those 900 doses available each week, Adamson said.
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County Board Chairman Mike Buehler said at a County Board of Health meeting that he is asking the governor for more vaccines.
“The amount of vaccine that McHenry County has been receiving has been far short of what we need, but once supply comes closer to meeting the enormous demand, we’ll be ready to ramp up, thanks to the hard work and generosity of the people of McHenry,” Buehler said in a statement. “We understand how frustrated people are with the pace – we hear you. We are ready to roll once we get a steadier and more reliable flow of vaccine.”