The Winnebago County Health Department reports there are continued efforts to increase local capacity to provide COVID-19 vaccines.
At a press conference covered by WREX-TV, the county’s public health administrator, Sandra Martell, said more than 4,000 vaccinations had been given out at the National Guard site on Sandy Hollow Road. The health department is also trying to expand vaccinations geographically.
"Planning continues to identify a site on the west side of Rockford to increase access for our communities of concern, including our black and brown communities that had the highest risk of disease burden. Zip codes 61108, 61109 and 61016 are some of our highest communities, and we know we need to continue that."
The health department will also begin using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Despite this, there were 20 new cases and two deaths due to coronavirus reported. Furthermore, Martell said there remains public concern over vaccine supply issues. This in turn led to confusion when appointments for second doses needed to be rescheduled.