COVID In Illinois: Hours Limited At 3 Coronavirus Vaccination Sites Due To Lack Of Vaccine

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Hours are being limited at three coronavirus vaccination sites in suburban Cook County due to a lack of vaccine.

The Cook County Department of Public Health said on Thursday that the Tinley Park Convention Center vaccination site will operate only on Friday and Monday, the Triton College site in River Grove will only operate on Friday and Saturday, and the South Suburban College site in South Holland will only operate on Friday.

Gov. JB Pritzker announced this week that in about two weeks, anyone in Illinois with an underlying health condition or disability will be able to get a COVID-19 vaccine, regardless of their age. But Chicago and the Cook County suburbs will not be participating because of a lack of vaccine to go around.

The city of Chicago, which receives vaccine doses from the federal government separately from the state, said it will not be expanding vaccine eligibility yet due to the limited supply of doses already available. Suburban Cook County also will not expand eligibility.

"While we are making progress every day with vaccinating people in 1a and 1b, at this time we are not being supplied with enough doses that would allow us to expand eligibility in these phases," Mayor Lori Lightfoot and County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said in a joint statement Thursday morning. "Doing so in Chicago and Cook County would add well over one million additional people to 1b, and the result would be that those currently eligible, including seniors, frontline essential workers and those in our most heavily COVID-burdened communities, would have an even harder time getting a vaccine."

Lightfoot and Preckwinkle said they look forward to expanding eligibility for the vaccine once supplies increase.