BATAVIA, Ill. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The mass COVID vaccination site in Kane County closes to the general public after Wednesday, Dec. 15, but there’s a move to try to get it back up and running again in a couple of weeks.
The Kane County Health Department announced without warning last week it would be shutting down the mass vaccination site in Batavia. Health Department Executive Director Kathy Foster told the county board Tuesday the main problem is not having enough vaccinators.
Foster said the department reached out to the Illinois Department of Emergency Management.
“The state had promised us the help, and last week, Wednesday, we had 10 of them not show up,” she said.
Foster speculated why it’s been so hard to find people who could put shots in arms at the mass vax site.
“We just have people that don’t want to work and it just could be because it’s the holidays. We can try to keep doing it, and like I said, we’ve reached out to [the Illinois Emergency Management Agency]. I mean, we’ve become desperate. I feel like we’re begging," she said.
In addition, Foster said she believes her department is competing with the state to find vaccinators, even for vaccination events that are happening in schools in Kane County.
She said there was trouble finding enough vaccination doses last week and the county had to go to McHenry County to find enough vaccine.
Kane County Board Chair Corinne Pierog pointed out there were nearly 800 new COVID cases in the county just last weekend, and that since the pandemic began, 922 Kane County residents have died of COVID-19.
“I’m scared…I’m angry that we are compromising the well-being of this county by a decision made independently of our board," Pierog said.
Foster told the Kane County Board she’s going to try to reopen Jan. 8 and have the mass vaccination site be open two days a week through Jan. 29.
Board members seem prepared to find a way to re-open it, possibly for a few more months.
The board has decided that, if needed, there’ll be an emergency Kane County board meeting next Wednesday immediately following the board’s Public Health Committee meeting.
The public, too, is weighing in and seems to want the mass vaccination site to remain open. During the public participation portion of Tuesday’s county board meeting, Llona Steele of the League of Women Voters of Central Kane County commented, “We do not believe that closing a mass vaccination site makes sense at this time, especially since Kane County is experiencing a high transmission rate.”
Ruth Kuzmanic called on the site to, not only remain open, but to expand its hours.
“Now, we’ve got a system that works and I’d hate to see it go backwards," she said.
Retired teacher Susan Sanders told the board, “My concern is for people who have language, economic, technology, and time challenges. The vax clinic is and was accessible. The more people who receive a vaccination, the less our hospitals and health care workers are challenged.”
Semi-retired microbiologist Linda Robertson said the wide availability of COVID shots is critical.
“The vaccination center did a wonderful job. Keep it open. It’s so important," she said.
Robertson added, “It’s so important because right now we have children finally getting vaccinations, which included my grandsons who will be fully immune in another week. We have so many people who need boosters.”
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The 7-day rolling average COVID test positivity for Kane County is more than 7 percent.
The Kane County Health Department said that, in the meantime, starting next month, vaccinations will be by appointment at the Aurora office, located at 1240 N. Highland Avenue. Availability can be checked at KaneVax.org.
The department said that there are also more than 90 other places in Kane County where people can also get a COVID shot. An updated list can be found at KaneHealth.com.
The KCHD said nearly 183,000 doses of COVID vaccines were administered at 270 community clinics, 124 of which were held at the county’s mass vaccination sites.