The Cook County Department of Public Health (CCDPH) reopened a mass vaccination site at the former Home Owners Bargain Outlet (HOBO) store at 7630 W. Roosevelt Rd., on Tuesday, Jan. 18.
The reopening marks a return to Forest Park Plaza for public health officials who first created a mass vaccination site there last March, just as the COVID-19 vaccines were being rolled out to the general public. The site closed in July as demand for the vaccine waned.
The HOBO store closed its doors in 2018 after its parent company filed for bankruptcy.
More than 85% of Forest Park residents had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as of Monday, Jan. 17, but just 63.9% were fully vaccinated, and the reopening of the mass immunization site comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expanded its recommendations for booster doses.
On Jan. 5, the CDC adjusted its recommendations to say that anyone age 12 to 17 is now eligible to receive a booster dose five months after receiving their second shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which is the only vaccine approved for use in children. Booster doses were already recommended for any adult who had received the full vaccine series from any of the three drugmakers — Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.
The vaccine clinic at Forest Park Plaza will operate from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
The clinic will offer first, second and booster doses, depending on eligibility. Appointments are recommended because of increased demand, although walk-in visitors will be “seen as resources allow,” according to CCDPH.
To make a vaccine appointment, call 833-308-1988.
