After receiving additional guidance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, local and state officials changed the requirements for appointments to the United Center’s mass vaccination site, limiting the number of appointments to residents of Chicago and Cook County.
According to an email sent by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s office on Sunday, appointment eligibility will indeed be extended to residents 18 or older with pre-existing health conditions and comorbidities, but appointments are only available to Chicago residents after Sunday afternoon 4 pm. .
Here’s who is now eligible to sign up for appointments on the coronavirus vaccine at the United Center:
Chicago residents
-All Chicago residents who are 18 years of age or older who have pre-existing health conditions, including cancer, diabetes, obesity, and other conditions identified by the Illinois Department of Public Health, are now eligible to apply for vaccination appointments in the United Center.
Chicago residents who meet these criteria can visit Zocdoc.com or call the city’s hotline at 312-746-4835.
Residents of suburban Cook County
-The Zocdoc website no longer allows suburban residents to sign up for appointments at the mass vaccination site, but there are some appointments reserved for residents in the Cook County suburbs.
More details on how to get those appointments will be released this week, but residents will be directed instead of Zocdoc to use the Cook County vaccination website.
A hotline will also be used to make arrangements, with residents who can call 833-308-1988, Monday through Friday, 7am to 7pm.
Inhabitants of Illinois
Illinois residents living outside of Cook County are not eligible to apply for COVID-19 vaccines at the United Center.
Instead, doses from the United Center site will be distributed to mobile vaccination teams, according to the governor’s office. Those vaccine doses will go to areas badly affected by the coronavirus, and the exact locations will be determined at a later date.