The number of suburban Cook County students without required vaccinations has nearly doubled over the past decade, and a county health department mobile clinic program launching Saturday, July 18, aims to close the gap before the school year starts.
Cook County Department of Public Health announced Tuesday, July 15, that it will bring free immunizations to community events and back-to-school fairs across suburban Cook County through mid-October, just ahead of the state's Wednesday, October 15, immunization compliance deadline. The shots are available to children ages 6 months to 18 years, regardless of insurance or immigration status.
No Oak Park clinic date has been announced yet. But local organizations can request a mobile vaccination stop at their own event by filling out a form at tinyurl.com/requestvaccinationclinic.
The data behind the push
CCDPH data shows the number of unvaccinated students in suburban Cook County rose from an average of 6,408 in the 2014-15 school year to 11,978 in 2025-26.
For the first time in more than a decade, vaccination rates ticked up slightly in 2025-26. Suburban Cook County K-12 schools reported rates between 96.71% and 97.02% across required vaccines, all above the 95% threshold considered necessary for herd immunity against diseases like measles.
Private schools, however, are moving in the opposite direction. CCDPH reported that unvaccinated rates are higher in private schools than public schools, and religious exemptions continue to rise.
Nationally, kindergarten vaccination coverage fell during the 2024-25 school year, driven by rising exemptions, according to the CDC.
A measles scare in March
The urgency is not abstract. On Monday, March 31, CCDPH issued a measles exposure warning after a contagious individual visited O'Hare International Airport Terminal 5 on March 24 and March 26. Measles is so contagious that 90% of unvaccinated people in close contact with an infected person will also become infected, according to the department.
"That's why we're bringing vaccines directly to the community," Dr. Kiran Joshi, CCDPH's chief operating officer, said in the July 15 announcement. "The more that children and teens are vaccinated, the better protected our entire community will be against vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks."
What Oak Park families need to know
Illinois law requires students to show proof of immunization, or hold a valid medical or religious exemption, by Wednesday, October 15. The mobile clinics offer nine vaccines covering the state-required schedule, including DTaP/Tdap, polio, MMR, hepatitis B, varicella, meningitis and HPV.
The first clinic runs Saturday, July 18, noon to 5 p.m., at the Taste of Thornton Township, 15800 S. State St., South Holland. Additional stops are planned in Dolton, Cicero, Worth, Park Forest, Norridge and Rolling Meadows. Registration is strongly encouraged; the full schedule is posted at tinyurl.com/CookCountyvaccinations.
Oak Park families who need vaccinations before a local clinic is scheduled can also contact the Infant Welfare Society Children's Clinic at 708-848-0528 or PCC Community Wellness Center at 708-383-0113 for low-cost and sliding-scale options, according to the Village of Oak Park's 2025 back-to-school guide.
