KENOSHA — Kenosha County is expanding its COVID-19 vaccination effort as it moves its vaccine clinic to the much larger former Shopko building.
The facility at 5300 52nd St. will now be Kenosha County Public Health's central area to administer vaccines to those who are eligible in the county. Private companies will continue to administer vaccines at their own facilities.
The former Shopko location will be able to accommodate vaccinations for up to 2,700 people per day, as long as there are enough doses, Kenosha County Health Officer Dr. Jen Freiheit explained in a statement Wednesday. That's compared to about 1,000 vaccinations per day at the site the county used to use, the Kenosha County Job Center on Sheridan Road.
The timing of the move will assist the county as it vaccinates the most recent group eligible, which includes educators, grocery workers, care workers and others.
Dr. Freiheit says the health department remains committed to bringing the county's herd immunity to 75 percent of residents - 127,500 people. As of Tuesday, about 15.3 percent of the county's population has received at least one of two doses required for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and 8.5 percent are fully vaccinated.
“The new, larger-scale clinic capacity will be a key to meeting this important benchmark in the coming months,” Freiheit said in the statement. “And the size of the facility will allow us to move these many thousands of people through with appropriate social distancing and privacy measures in place.”
The Shopko facility will be able to accommodate 25 vaccination stations at a time, compared to 11 at the Job Center.
For more information and to schedule an appointment to get a vaccination, head to the health department's website here.