Eligible Evanston residents can sign up for appointments at Cook County and Illinois mass vaccination sites with slots opening as early as this Friday at noon for residents in Phase 1B, according to a Thursday newsletter from Mayor Steve Hagerty. 

Phase 1B comprises frontline essential workers, including K-12 education teachers and grocery store workers, and individuals age 65 and older. Starting Monday, the sites will open to Phase 1B+ individuals, which includes people with disabilities and underlying conditions. Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Thursday the state will expand vaccine eligibility to all Illinois residents over 16 — excluding those who live in Chicago — on April 12. 

“Opening these MassVac locations will increase the pace at which Evanston residents can be vaccinated, and will support our Health & Human Services Department’s ongoing efforts to administer vaccines to eligible residents as quickly as we receive them,” the newsletter said.

88 percent of Evanston residents 65 and older have received their first dose of the vaccine, according to Illinois Department of Public Health data. 56 percent of those residents have received their second dose. 

The City projects nearly all residents 65 and older will be able to receive their first dose of the vaccine by the end of March.  

Evanston/Skokie School District 65 and Evanston Township High School/District 202 collaborated with Walgreens and Walgreen Health Solutions to host a vaccination event for educators and staff at Maine South High School Sunday.

The initiative comes amid community concerns about the safety of returning to in-person learning. District 65 returned to partial face-to-face instruction in February. ETHS will return to a hybrid learning model in early April, a decision teachers in the district said “blindsided” them.

“More than getting shots in the arms of our educators, it means getting our kids back in the classroom,” Hagerty said.

The city is seeing just over six new positive cases each day, on average, and its seven day test positivity rate is .7 percent. 

This story has been updated to reflect the location of the vaccination event.

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Twitter: @delaneygnelson

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