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Will County committee OKs funding for more staff, supplies to aid vaccine effort

About $3 million in expenses will need approval from full County Board

By Alex Ortiz
A patient receives their second dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, at the Will County Health Department in Joliet, Ill. The Will County Health Department is accelerating vaccination efforts throughout the region.

A patient receives their second dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, at the Will County Health Department in Joliet, Ill. The Will County Health Department is accelerating vaccination efforts throughout the region. (Geoff Stellfox - gstellfox@shawmedia.com/Geoff Stellfox - gstellfox@shawmedia.com)

The Will County Board Executive Committee gave the OK for about $3 million for staffing, supplies and more to enhance the county’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, D-Shorewood, had asked the board to allocate about $5 million to aid the county’s health department. The board already approved about $2 million for a contract to set up a call center to help the overwhelmed health department field questions.

The full County Board will have to give final approval for the remaining $3 million in expenses at its meeting next Thursday.

The health department requested about $80,000 to hire a public relations firm to handle communications about the vaccine rollout. The committee members voted to allocate that money to the county executive’s office.

The rest of the $3 million will go directly to the health department which is in charge of administering shots. Sue Olenek, the executive director of the Will County Health Department, told board members Thursday the funding amounts were her best guess for what will be needed.

Her request included $100,000 to rent venues to set up vaccination sites. During another meeting on Wednesday, Olenek said she was unsure how much it would cost to secure physical spaces for vaccine sites because some entities have volunteered buildings for the effort.

There was another $125,000 requested for medical supplies like personal protective equipment, EpiPens, and first aid kits.

Another $150,000 would pay for non-medical supplies like signage, traffic cones, flags, tents, heaters and coolers, which can be used at eventual outdoor drive-thru vaccination sites.

About $2 million would be used to hire personnel to staff clinics.

Another $240,000 would be used for technology expenses like tablets and phones to check in residents.

The remaining money would be used for food, educational supplies and other miscellaneous expenses.

Still, Olenek said Wednesday the health department may need more money allocated in the future.

“I don’t know if this will completely cover our costs,” Olenek said. “I highly doubt it.”

County Board Speaker Mimi Cowan, D-Naperville, encouraged Olenek to come back with whatever she needed.

“We are going to do here in Will County what is necessary to fund a vaccine rollout,” Cowan said.

Olenek said Wednesday she expects vaccinations to continue for many months, especially as more people, including eventually people under the age of 16, become eligible.

“We’re all in here for the long haul,” she said.