Lake County Portal Allows Residents To Register For COVID-19 Vaccine
CHICAGO (CBS) -- One county in Illinois is already taking registrations for the COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine shot. So far, more than 60,000 people in Lake County have signed up to be notified when they can be vaccinated.
The Lake County Health Department is the first county in the state to implement any sort of registration for the vaccine. The executive director says they are using what they learned during the 2009 H1N1 outbreak to get vaccines to residents in the quickest and safest way possible.
Jeffery Berman said he did not hesitate at all when registering on the Lake County Health Department's Allvax portal.
"I think that I crave moving back to normalcy as many people do," said Berman. "I have no idea where my priority would fall, but I felt like it was important to put my name in there so that when the opportunity arises I will be there."
The Buffalo Grove resident is just one of thousands of people who have already taken advantage of the free and secure site.
"It gives us an understanding, too, of how many people are willing to get the vaccine ,so what we're seeing so far is great news if this continues," said Mark Pfister, executive director of the Lake County Health Department.
Lake County residents are urged to register their entire household through the portal, including children, who may not be eligible for the vaccine for quite some time. It asks questions like age, preexisting conditions and occupation.
"So they'll be able to get that notification, and then when they are ready to get their vaccine, we actually have in the system that they could schedule an appointment at one of our mass vaccination clinics," said Pfister.
He said when available the vaccines will be distributed via drive-up clinics in the parkings lots of local high schools.
"We want to reach a goal of 80% in Lake County. A lot of experts say you want to get to about 70% to develop real herd immunity," Pfister said.
That's something especially important to Berman, who mother-in-law is battling COVID-19.
"It's touched us in a number of different ways, but ultimately I would like to see us be able to beat this thing. And if I can, contribute and help avoid spreading it and be a part of the solution," said Berman.
CBS 2 reached out to several different health departments Thursday. None of them reported having plans for a similar vaccine registry.
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