CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Gov. J.B. Pritzker's vaccination mandate for hospital and school workers has sparked a doubling of requests for one kind of COVID-19 shot in Kane County.
Hospital and school workers need to have their COVID-19 shots by Sunday or else be tested weekly for COVID-19.
Theresa Knauf, assistant director of disease prevention for the Kane County Health Department, said a lot more people have been getting vaccinated in her county in the last couple of weeks and that many of them have been opting for the one-time-shot, the Janssen or J&J vaccine. She said they've been saying they needed it to obey the governor's mandate.
"We've found that we've had a doubling of the request for Janssen in the last month. We have plenty of Janssen vaccine and we would be more than happy to give that out if people would come to the Vax Hub," Knauf told WBBM Newsradio.
The county also offers the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
The Kane Vax Hub is open from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at 501 N. Randall Road in Batavia. It's open to any Illinois resident.
The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 54.7% of eligible Kane County residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Knauf said her agency is doing all it can to educate people and get more of them to get their shots.
