Kane County Health Department to start vaccinating 1B priority groups within the next two weeks

KANE COUNTY – State officials announced the guidelines for the 1B stage of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution across Illinois, on January 6. This category is defined by the federal government as including first responders such as police officers and firefighters, education workers, as well as grocery store employees, to name a few of the groups qualified for the next round of vaccines. With that being said, the Kane County Health Department (KCHD) issued a press release that same day notifying the public of their plan to provide the COVID-19 vaccine to health care workers that week.

Health care workers were notified the week prior, that they could schedule their appointments for the vaccination. To date, Kane County has received 16,045 doses of the vaccine which were first distributed to the 1A priority group of the five Kane County hospitals and other healthcare workers.

As of Jan 11, KCHD has announced that they have administered the COVID-19 vaccine to over 2,100 1A priority health care workers at two clinics. This momentous task was made possible by volunteers from 14 area agencies.

KCHD interim executive director Kathy Fosser stated, “The clinics were a true community effort. We want to thank all the volunteers and community agencies who came together to help set up the clinics.”

As KCHD prepares to host more mass-vaccination clinics for the remaining 1A facilities in the area, they anticipate to begin vaccinating members of the 1B priority group within the next two upcoming weeks. In addition, KCHD plans on working closely with other partner providers who will be able to provide vaccinations to individuals falling within the priority groups.

While KCHD has not released any more additional details for when 1B priority group individuals can expect to be able to sign up for their appointments, residents of Kane County can register on KaneHealth.com to receive notifications and updates on the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. However, residents should note that entering their contact information in the COVID-19 Vaccine Notification system, does not mean they are reserving a vaccine or making an appointment to receive the vaccine.

Vaccinations for the general public are not expected to be available until early spring, according to KCHD’s website.

Members of the 1A group who received the first dose of the vaccine are expected to receive a notification with an electronic link to register for the second dose in clinics scheduled to take place on February 4 and Feb 5.

“It marks the beginning of the end of COVID-19 in our community. Thanks to our health department staff, the staff at all five of our Kane County hospitals, the Kane County Sheriff’s Department and Kane County Emergency Management for coordinating the vaccine distribution. We look forward to increased shipments and increased vaccinations in the coming days,” Fosser said in a public statement.

The Kane County Sheriff’s Office is ensuring that all shipments of the COVID-19 vaccine are being kept secure and safe, especially in light of the news of shipments of the COVID-19 vaccine being tampered with.

“The Sheriff’s Office is proud to support the security, movement, and logistics of the COVID vaccine distribution across Kane County,” said Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain. “We have established a seamless working relationship with our Health Department and we are confident that the county will be able to expeditiously supply all of our citizens the opportunity for vaccination and soon return to normalcy.”