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COVID Vaccine Appointment Information For Sangamon County

An Illinois Air National Guard member receives his COVID-19 vaccination at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.
Mary Hansen
/
NPR Illinois | 91.9 UIS
An Illinois Air National Guard member receives his COVID-19 vaccination at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.

March 18: Updated information can be found here COVID Vaccine Information For Sangamon County.

The Sangamon County Department of Public Health is making 12,000 appointments at its drive-thru clinic for first and second doses available.

The first dose appointments will run from March 16 through April 30, and second doses will extend through May 29. Appointments can be booked at the Sangamon County health department’s website or by calling its hotline, 217-321-2606.

The county health department, the Illinois National Guard site at the Illinois State Fairgrounds as well as 10 pharmacy locations are offering COVID-19 vaccine shots to the public, including Hy-Vee’s pharmacy and nine Walgreens locations.

HSHS St. John’s and Memorial Health System have been offering shots to their high-risk patients, but could expand to the public in the coming weeks.

The Illinois Department of Public Health lists all the locations statewide offering COVID-19 vaccinations on its website, which can be found here (coronavirus.illinois.gov). A full list of those currently eligible in Phase 1A,Phase 1B and Phase 1B+ is also on the website.

Here’s who qualifies and how to sign up for appointments for each location, as well as vaccine information from local medical providers.

Orr Building, Illinois State Fairgrounds

The Illinois National Guard and the Sangamon County Department of Public Health recently expanded hours at the mass vaccination site at the Illinois State Fairgrounds and have opened appointments through March 21.

The appointments — up to 1,100 appointments per day — are for seniors 65 and older, healthcare workers and frontline essential workers in Phase 1B of Illinois’ distribution plan, as well as people over 16 with some underlying medical conditions in the expanded 1B category. Appointments can be made on SCDPH’s website or by calling (217) 210-8800.

The clinic is open Tuesday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health are coordinating with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, the Illinois National Guard and county health department to run the site.

Trained National Guard and contracted nurses will give the COVID-19 shots in the Orr Building. Vaccinations are free of charge, and state officials encouraged people to check the website frequently for new slots, according to a statement from Pritzker’s office.

Sangamon County Department of Public Health, 2833 South Grand Ave. E

Sangamon County is providing shots for seniors over 65, frontline workers in Phase 1B and those in Phase 1B+. Those who qualify can sign up for appointments, when available, via the hotline, 217-321-2606, or website (SCDPH.org). A portion of appointments can only be booked via the hotline.

The health department is following the state’s expanded criteria for anyone in Phase 1A, 1B and 1B+.

For announcements of new appointment slots, the county health department will send out alerts by text or email from the Sangamon Alert Messaging (SAM) system.

Registration is available on the county’s website, co.sangamon.il.us/SAM , or by texting SAM to 99411. Registrants must click the “Public Health” notification box when signing up to get alerts about COVID-19 vaccinations.

The drive-thru site is open seven days a week. Sangamon County health department Director Gail O’Neill urged seniors who have trouble accessing the online appointment scheduler to call the health department’s vaccine hotline: 217-321-2606.

Hy-Vee Pharmacy, 2115 S. MacArthur Blvd.

Hy-Vee will serve anyone in current phases of Illinois’ vaccination plan.

People who are eligible can sign up for appointments on Hy-Vee’s website (www.hy-vee.com/my-pharmacy/covid-vaccine-consent).

Right now, the pharmacy has the Moderna vaccine.

The pharmacy schedules appointments for a five-day window, and opens up new appointments each morning, according to spokeswoman Christina Gayman. For example, Friday appointments are posted on Monday morning. She recommends checking the website daily for newly available appointments.

Once appointments for all available doses are full, a message will appear in the “Time Slot” portion indicating their pharmacy has run out of doses and to check back again when there are more. Gayman said Hy-Vee will post announcements of new shipments on its Springfield store Facebook page .

Gayman could not give a total number of doses Hy-Vee received from the state of Illinois.

People without internet access can call the pharmacy to schedule, but Gayman stressed the pharmacists use the same online appointment system available to the public on the website. The number is 217-726-1001.

Nine Walgreens Locations In Springfield

Walgreens will serve anyone in the current phases of Illinois’ vaccination plan.

Those who are eligible can sign up for an appointment on Walgreens’ website (www.walgreens.com/findcare/vaccination/covid-19). You must sign up for an account to access appointment registration.

The pharmacy chain announced in early February it would receive an additional 39,300 doses per week from the federal government to its pharmacies throughout Illinois. The shipments will be targeted to areas with a high score on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's social vulnerability index, according to a news release from the pharmacy.

Locations in Springfield offering the shot, according to IDPH, include: 2020 S MacArthur Blvd.; 2305 W. Monroe St.; 1310 S 5th St.; 2500 S Koke Mill Rd.; 2945 S 6th St. ; 1900 W. Jefferson St.; 2625 Adlai Stevenson Dr.; 2140 N. Peoria Rd.; 3216 E. Clear Lake Ave.

Memorial Health System

Memorial is contacting Memorial Physician Services patients directly to schedule appointments for their limited supply of COVID-19 vaccines, according to spokeswoman Angie Muhs.

The healthcare group is focusing on those who qualify in Phase 1B and are most at-risk due to their age or medical condition. Memorial plans to receive 1,500 doses from Sangamon County’s supply the weeks of Feb. 8 and Feb. 15.

Members of the general public cannot schedule vaccine appointments with Memorial at this time, Muhs said. But the healthcare group anticipates being able to open a public vaccination clinic as it receives more doses consistently.

More information is on Memorial’s website (choosememorial.org/COVID-19) and social media pages.

HSHS St. John’s

Similar to Memorial, HSHS St. John’s and Prairie Health Institute have also been offering COVID-19 vaccinations to patients over 65 through their online patient portal, MyChart.

The health system plans to use the patient portal for future vaccine appointments and encourages patients to sign up for a MyChart account, said spokeswoman Catie Sheehan. To sign up for the online portal, HSHS patients can visit its website (www.hshsmyhealthrecord.com) or call the vaccine hotline – 1-844-216-4707.

HSHS plans to offer vaccines to the public as supply allows, Sheehan said. More information will be posted onHSHS’ website ( www.hshs.org/COVID-vaccine ).

March 2: This post was updated with new information on the Illinois National Guard site at the state fairgrounds.

Feb. 4: This post has been updated with new information from Walgreens and HSHS St. John’s.

Feb. 3: This post was updated with new information from the Sangamon County Department of Public Health and Memorial Health System.

Mary Hansen is a former NPR Illinois reporter.
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