Mobile pop-up vaccine clinics planned in area

Southern Seven Health Department is planning to launch a new mobile COVID-19 vaccine tour in the region it serves.

The health department serves Alexander, Pulaski, Massac, Union, Johnson, Pope and Hardin counties in Southern Illinois.

The pop-up vaccination events are aimed to reach some of the farthest outlying townships in each of the seven counties, the health department said.

“While we’ve been working through our waitlists of individuals who were wanting to get vaccinated, we’ve been in place at large centralized locations to make it easy to maintain social distancing with the expected large crowds,” said Nathan Ryder, outreach coordinator for Southern Seven Health Department’s contact tracing team.

“Now that we’ve been able to vaccinate those larger crowds and that demand is slowing down, we’d like to hit the road and make it easier for residents in those farthest outlying areas to get vaccinated if they’d like.”

The mobile pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinics will utilize the Illinois Department of Public Health’s Wellness on Wheels, WOW, vans to provide the traveling clinic space to administer the vaccines. 

Individuals will then be able to wait their required 15 minutes after the vaccine in the comfort of their own car parked nearby. 

This unique rolling clinic gives people in some of the most rural areas of our counties an opportunity to easily get vaccinated close to home, Ryder said.

“We will be able to roll up to a designated spot, park the WOW van, and open the door to accept our first patient within just a few minutes of arrival,” Ryder said. 

“People will be able to schedule themselves an appointment for these pop-up clinics online or show up as a walk-in.”

The schedule for the mobile clinics follows, as provided by the health department:

Tuesday, April 27, Pulaski County

10 a.m. to noon, The Train Depot, Central Avenue, Ullin.

2 p.m. to 4 p.m., SMILES, 412 S. Blanche St., Mounds.

Wednesday, April 28, Johnson County

10 a.m. to noon, First Pentecostal Church, 90 Locust Rd., Ozark.

2 p.m. to 4 p.m., First Baptist Church, 608 W. Main St., Goreville.

Thursday, April 29, Union County

10 a.m. to noon, Alto Pass Park, Elm Street near Chestnut Street, Alto Pass.

2 p.m. to 4 p.m., Cobden Park, 217 Locust St., Cobden.

Friday, April 30, Alexander County

10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., next to Babe’s Fish Wagon, Virginia Drive, East Cape Girardeau.

Saturday, May 1, Massac County

10 a.m. to noon, Big John’s Grocery Store, 1200 E. 5th St., Metropolis.

2 p.m. to 4 p.m., First Baptist Church, 700 Pell Rd., Brookport.

Tuesday, May 4, Pope County

10 a.m. to noon, Aly Funeral Home, 1099 State Route 145, Eddyville.

2 p.m. to 4 p.m., Gospel Mission Tabernacle, 166 State Route 146W, Golconda.

Wednesday, May 5, Hardin County

10 a.m. to noon, baseball and softball park, Locust Street, Elizabethtown.

2 p.m. to 4 p.m., Potters Church, 590 N. Mill St., Cave-In-Rock.

Thursday, May 6, Alexander County

10 a.m. to noon, Faith Assembly of God Church, 4730 State Route 3N, Wolf Lake.

2 p.m. to 4 p.m., big ballpark, Tamms Avenue/Front Street, Tamms.

The mobile clinics will operate in addition to the health department’s regularly scheduled mass vaccination locations. 

Currently, the health department is operating at least two, fixed mass vaccination locations in the region each day, Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

There is no charge to receive a COVID-19 vaccine from Southern Seven Health Department.

In addition to taking appointments, the health department is also accepting walk-ins at each of its daily vaccine clinic locations.

To guarantee a vaccine dose on a given day, people can schedule themselves for a vaccine appointment using the Illinois Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 vaccine registration system online at https://covidvaccination.dph.illinois.gov.

Vaccines will be provided only to Illinois residents and/or individuals with proof of employment in Illinois. Everyone over the age of 18 years old is eligible to get vaccinated.

For questions regarding COVID-19 or locations of COVID-19 vaccine clinics, contact Southern Seven Health Department at 618-634-2297 or visit the health department on Facebook and online at www.southern7.org.