Possible final New Trier vaccine clinic set for May 5. County to try house calls next.

One more county vaccine clinic is on the calendar for New Trier High School.

Anybody age 16 or older can schedule an appointment to receive a COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, May 5, at the high school’s Northfield campus, 7 N. Happ Road. It will be the fourth event available to the general public at the site, which has administered vaccines to more than 10,000 people so far, according to local officials.

The site is operated by the Cook County of Public Health with administrative aid from a series of northern suburbs, such as Wilmette, Winnetka and Glencoe.

The 900-plus appointments for the first two public clinics quickly filled — the first on April 13 in 30 minutes and the second in less than two hours, said Mike Braiman, Wilmette’s village manager. 

The demand level dipped much further for the third clinic, held on Wednesday, April 28, when about 200 slots were left unoccupied, said Phil Kiraly, Glencoe’s village manager, who added that the leftover vaccines were returned to the county.

Braiman believes the decrease in demand is organic, a result of increased vaccine supply and availability, and not powered by vaccine hesitancy. 

In Wilmette, he said, more than 70 percent of residents have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 48 percent are fully vaccinated. Those numbers dwarf county numbers, which show 42.3 percent of suburban Cook residents with at least one dose and 26.4 percent vaccinated.

In Glencoe, Kiraly said, those numbers are 56.2 percent and 37.1 percent, respectively.

Braiman said after the May 5 clinic, local leaders will meet with county officials to reevaluate community vaccination options. 

One of those options, which Braiman mentioned in January, is getting a test run. 

The county health department is piloting a program to administer the vaccine to homebound residents of suburban Cook County. 

The program is currently only available to residents who cannot leave their home “for medical reasons,” the county says on their website. Like the vaccine clinics at NTHS, in-home vaccines will be administered by area paramedics.

Eligible individuals are encouraged to fill out a digital form and will be contacted if an in-home vaccination can be scheduled, the county says.

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