Cook County Vaccine: 8K Appointments to Be Released Wednesday

Cook County Health will release 8,000 first-dose COVID vaccine appointments Wednesday evening for individuals in Phases 1A, 1B and 1C.

The appointments will be released at 6 p.m. Wednesday and can be booked on the Cook County vaccine website or by calling the county's hotline at (833) 308-1988. The call center will remain open until 10 p.m. Wednesday to accommodate the release, officials said.

Cook County's vaccination appointments are open to all eligible Illinois residents. The appointments released Wednesday will be for four of the county's five mass vaccination sites:

• South Suburban College, 15800 State St. in South Holland
• Triton College, 2000 5th Ave. in River Grove
• A former K-Mart at 1155 E Oakton St in Des Plaines
• Former HOBO at 7600 West Roosevelt Road in Forest Park

Officials said the county expects to release additional appointments based on vaccine supply as early as Thursday.

The new appointments came as Cook County announced that the suburban portions of the county - operating on a different framework than the city of Chicago - has moved into Phase 1C of its vaccination rollout.

For a complete look at who is eligible to receive the COVID vaccine and when in Illinois, click here.

"All essential workers – including clergy, restaurant staff, energy, legal, retail and transportation and logistics – are now eligible to receive vaccine," the county said, noting that Phase 1C includes the last eligible groups before all residents age 16 and older will be able to get vaccinated in the coming weeks.

The county was previously in Phase 1B Plus. A complete list of Phase 1C eligible groups can be found on the CCDPH website. Anyone eligible in prior phases remains eligible for vaccinations moving forward.

The county's last appointment drop was on Sunday, when 25,000 first-dose appointments were booked in less than two hours.

For a complete look at how to make a COVID vaccine appointment in Illinois, click here.