Will County Board approves funding to enhance COVID-19 vaccine effort

The Will County Board approved funding Thursday for the Will County Health Department to hire staff and purchase supplies for its COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

The board voted for about $3 million made available via the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, Act passed by Congress last year.

The board slightly adjusted how it would deliver the money to the health department, opting for a loan instead of just a straight appropriation.

This change came after Sue Olenek, the executive director of the health department, told county officials that her department was anticipating receiving a $1.75 million grant from the Illinois Department of Public Health for vaccine distribution.

Olenek said in an email to county officials the health department’s governing board was tabling the appropriation of the $3 million in light of news of the other grant.

Her email appeared to concern Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant and County Board Speaker Mimi Cowan, who urged Olenek to use the $3 million to begin hiring needed staff.

Cowan, D-Naperville, argued in her response to Olenek that the health department should be ready for when vaccine supply ultimately does increase to allow for more clinics to open.

“The County Board is adamant that we have everything in place so we are ready to go” when supply increases, Cowan said in an interview.

At the Will County Board of Health meeting on Wednesday, Olenek and the members tried to hash out the apparent confusion on how to proceed with the different funding sources. The Board of Health directly oversees the county health department’s policies and procedures.

James Zelko, the president of the Board of Health, explained that the health department was trying to be transparent with county officials about the extra funding and allow the County Board to take a different course of action if needed.

County Board member Mike Fricilone, R-Homer Glen, also urged the Board of Health Wednesday to move forward with the $3 million from the county, echoing Cowan’s argument.

“I don’t want you guys to get into a situation where you’re hiring people until we’re at critical mass again,” Fricilone said, referring to the expedited approval of money for a call center to handle the overwhelming number of inquiries coming to the health department.

Zelko said he had no problem moving ahead with allocating the $3 million and after further discussion decided to make it a loan, instead of a straight award, to the health department.

The Board of Health ultimately voted to appropriate both the $3 million from the county and $1.75 million from the IDPH grant.

While the Will County Board also approved the $3 million to send to the health department, it had to delay another $80,000 earmarked for the hiring of a public relations firm. The aim was for a communications team to help better publicize information about the county’s vaccination program to the general public.

Cowan said the County Board needed to clean up some language in the resolution before approval and will call a special meeting to vote on that money soon.

Still, health officials have said even with adequate staffing and supplies, more mass vaccination sites won’t be operational until vaccine supply ramps up. Even though Will County is receiving better projections of how many vaccine doses it will receive in the coming weeks, the actual numbers remain disappointingly low.

As of Thursday, more than 21,000 people in Will County, or 3.1% of the population, have been fully vaccinated.