More than 100,000 appointments for COVID-19 vaccinations at the United Center’s new mass vaccination site will open this week, Chicago and Illinois officials announced Tuesday.
Appointments will be open exclusively to Illinois residents 65 and older on Thursday at 8:30 a.m., Governor JB Pritzker said in a statement, noting that there are two ways to sign up:
- Go to Zocdoc.com/vaccine to register online. The website is expected to handle a much larger number of appointment requests. Zocdoc shows real-time availability of appointments and eligible residents can then select a date / time and book an appointment online. Date of birth is required when booking an appointment to confirm vaccine eligibility.
- Call (312) 746-4835 to sign up by phone. To bridge the digital divide, a multilingual call center will be available to assist seniors in making an appointment. This call center is available Monday to Saturday from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm and on Sunday from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. Given the expected high demand for appointments, residents who can use the website must book their appointments online. Although the call center has 200 employees, those who need the call center will most likely experience long waiting times.
Appointments will initially only be open to seniors for an exclusive registration period through Sunday afternoon, said Dr. Chicago Health Commissioner Allison Arwady in a Facebook Live update Tuesday morning.
“Appointments are only possible for people aged 65 and over,” said Arwady. Appointments remain open only to seniors, over 65s, from Thursday at 8:30 am through Sunday at 4:00 pm So Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday is the time that if you’re over 65, you know someone over 65 then help him make an appointment. “
“Then, once we’re on Sunday, we don’t see all the appointments made by people over 65, we start at 4:00 PM on Sunday when we open up to people with underlying conditions,” Arwady added.
A coalition of federal, state and local officials announced last week that the United Center would be transformed into a mass vaccination site under a new federal pilot program, opening March 10.
But Pritzker said on Tuesday that the site will open on a limited basis the day before, on March 9, with a full opening the following day. Arwady said early opening was enabled based on “how some funds come in.”
The United Center site will be up and running seven days a week for eight weeks and will be able to deliver 6,000 injections per day at full capacity, officials said, noting that vaccinations would be by appointment only and that the question ” expected to be high “. Those doses will be supplied directly from the federal government and not derived from the supply sent to Chicago or Illinois.
Arwady also noted on Tuesday that Uber is offering 20,000 free rides to and from the United Center to Chicago residents who need assistance with transportation. She said the first few weeks of operating the site would be a walk-up, but there are plans to add a drive-up component in the coming weeks.
Following the special registration period exclusively for seniors opening Thursday, the site will be open to all Illinois residents – not just those living in Chicago – who are currently eligible for vaccinations under the current Phase 1B Plus of the vaccine rollout plan. the state.
The state last week expanded the Phase 1B guidelines, which qualify people with certain high-risk medical conditions and co-morbidities.
The list of qualifying high-risk medical conditions (which is subject to change) includes:
- Cancer
- Chronic kidney disease
- COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
- Diabetes
- Heart disease
- Immunocompromised state of solid organ transplant
- Obesity
- Pregnancy
- Lung disease
- Sickle cell disease
Earlier under the earlier iteration Phase 1B, residents 65 and older and key workers were eligible for the vaccine. Here’s a look at those who have already qualified under Stage 1B:
- Residents aged 65 and older
- Primary care workers, meaning “residents at higher risk of exposure to COVID-19 because of their work duties, often because they cannot work from home, and / or they must work closely with others without being able to distance themselves socially”. This includes:
- First responders: Fire Department, Law Enforcement, 911 Workers, Security Staff, School Officers
- Education: Teachers, school principals, student counseling, student resources, childcare
- Food and agriculture: Processing, plants, veterinary health, animal husbandry, animal care
- Manufacturing: Industrial production of goods for distribution to retailers, wholesalers or other manufacturers
- Corrections for workers and prisoners: Prison officers, juvenile detention center staff, personal support workers, detainees
- USPS employees
- Public transport employees: Flight crew, bus drivers, train conductors, taxi drivers, para-transit drivers, personal support, ride-sharing services
- Supermarket employees: Baggers, cashiers, stockholders, takeout, customer service
- Shelters and nursery: Homeless shelters, women’s shelters, adult day / walk-in program, sheltered workplace, psychosocial rehabilitation
As the state expanded its Phase 1B, many counties, health departments, and hospital systems – including Chicago and Cook County – said they would not join the rest of Illinois to increase eligibility, citing low vaccine offerings for those already eligible come.
The United Center is one of 18 “ federally established community vaccination centers ” across the country that President Joe Biden’s administration said on Friday will either open recently or open in the coming weeks, capable of delivering a total of 61,000 injections per day at full capacity.
Those sites, including the United Center, were selected based on a range of criteria, including the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s “Social Vulnerability Index”.
That index helps officials identify and map communities most likely to need support before, during and after a hazardous event, taking into account critical data points including socioeconomic status, family composition, minority status, languages, housing type and transportation. said the White House.
Chicago and Cook County were found to have “significantly medically disadvantaged and marginalized populations,” the White House said, adding that the United Center is in a “central and accessible” area with nearby public transportation and good walkability.
“The site will serve up to 2.9 million people living within a 30-minute drive,” said the White House, noting that 22,000 people live within a mile of the arena.
“The United Center is one of the best locations for vaccinating large numbers of people in America: it is easy to get to, is in the midst of a medically disadvantaged community, can handle large crowds, and is well known to everyone in Illinois,” Pritzker said in a statement last week.
“I am very grateful to the Biden-Harris administration for working closely with us to create this high-capacity site, and I am extremely proud that we have worked together to prioritize seniors in this process, bringing us much closer to end this pandemic, ”he continued.