Rock Island County is one of two counties in Illinois that will receive state help to offer a new, mass COVID-19 vaccination clinic. (The other county is Grundy.)Today, Governor J.B. Pritzker announced members of the Illinois National Guard will be deployed to help launch local the new vaccination site, and other state resources will also be available.
Starting Tuesday, March 9th, Rock Island County's mass vaccination site will be held from 8 am until 4 pm at the Camden Centre in Milan. It's limited to county residents only, and appointments are required. After this week, it will operate Mondays through Saturdays.
Health Department Administrator, Nita Ludwig, says the goal is to increase vaccination rate in underserved communities. The link to sign up for appointments this week will go "live" at 6 pm on the Rock Island County Health Department Facebook page and at RICHD.org.
Tuesday's vaccine clinic at the TaxSlayer Center will be the last one at least for a while. That's because the health department will send staff and volunteers to work at the National Guard vaccination site in Milan.
More than 1,200 Illinois National Guard members are helping with pandemic response. The governor says every day they're supporting more than 60 vaccination clinics across the state.