More than 100,000 consultations for COVID-19 vaccinations at the United Center’s new mass vaccination site opened on Thursday. Here’s what you need to know, including how to apply:
Consultations are open exclusively to Illinois residents aged 65 and over at 8:30 am on Thursday, said Governor JB Pritzker, noting that there are two ways to apply:
- To register online, visit Zocdoc.com/vaccine. The website was designed to handle a much larger volume of scheduling requests. Zocdoc will show the availability of consultations in real time and qualified residents will be able to select a date / time and make an appointment online. The date of birth will be required when making an appointment to confirm the vaccine’s eligibility.
- To register by phone, call (312) 746-4835. A multilingual call center will be available to assist the elderly to make an appointment from 8 am to 8 pm, Monday to Saturday, and from 8 am to 4 pm, on Sunday. Given the expected high demand for consultations, residents who can use the site should book their appointments online. Although the call center has 200 employees, those who need to use it are likely to have long waiting times.
The exclusive registration period for the elderly will be open until Sunday afternoon, said Chicago Department of Public Health commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady, in an update to Facebook Live on Tuesday.
“Consultations will be open only to the elderly, people aged 65 and over, from Thursday at 8:30 am until Sunday at 4:00 pm. Therefore, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday is the time that if you are over 65 you know someone over 65, please help him get an appointment, “said Arwady.
“So when we get to Sunday, if we don’t see all the appointments made by people over 65, starting at 4pm on Sunday is when we will open up to people with underlying diseases,” added Arwady.
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, which opened on March 10.
But Pritzker said on Tuesday that the site would open to a limited extent the day before, on March 9, with full opening the next day. Arwady said the early opening was possible based on “how some of the resources are coming in”.
The United Center website will operate seven days a week for eight weeks and will be able to deliver 6,000 vaccines a day at full capacity, officials said, noting that vaccinations would be by appointment only and that demand “would be high”. These doses will be delivered directly from the federal government and not diverted from the delivery sent to Chicago or Illinois.
Vaccination will be offered free of charge and insurance is not required, nor will it be requested on the spot, said Pritzker’s office.
Officials also pointed out that Uber is offering 20,000 free trips to and from the United Center for Chicago residents who need help with transportation. After a Chicago resident makes an appointment with Zocdoc, he will receive a confirmation email asking if he needs transportation. If so, they will receive a $ 40 Uber credit, which will only be valid for round trips to the location.
Arwady noted on Tuesday that the first weeks of operation of the site would be without delay, but that there are plans to add an augmentation component in the coming weeks.
After the special registration period exclusively for the elderly, the site will be open to all Illinois residents – not just those living in Chicago – who currently qualify for vaccination under the current Phase 1B Plus of the state’s vaccine distribution plan .
The state expanded the Phase 1B guidelines last week, opening the eligibility to include people with certain high-risk medical conditions and comorbidities.
The list of qualified high-risk medical conditions (which is subject to change) includes:
- Cancer
- Chronic Kidney Disease
- COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
- Diabetes
- Heart condition
- Immunocompromised state of a solid organ transplant
- Smoke
- Obesity
- Pregnancy
- Lung disease
- Sickle cell anemia
Previously, in phase 1B of the previous iteration, residents aged 65 and over, as well as essential workers, were eligible to receive the vaccine. Here is a look at those who have already qualified in Phase 1B:
- Residents aged 65 and over
- Essential frontline workers, meaning “residents who are at increased risk of exposure to COVID-19 because of their work obligations, often because they are unable to work from home and / or must work close to other people without being able to distance themselves socially. This includes:
- First to answer: Firefighters, police, 911 workers, security personnel, school officials
- Education: Teachers, principals, student support, student assistants, daycare worker
- Food and Agriculture: Processing, plants, veterinary health, livestock services, animal care
- Manufacture: Industrial production of goods for distribution to retail, wholesale or other manufacturers
- Correctional and prison staff: Prison officers, youth facility staff, in-person support workers, inmatesU
- USPS workers
- Public transport workers: Flight crew, bus drivers, train drivers, taxi drivers, para-transit drivers, personal support, ride sharing services
- Grocery workers: Baggers, cashiers, stockists, pickup, customer service
- Shelter and daycare staff: Homeless shelter, women’s shelter, adult day / drop-in program, sheltered workshop, 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 the low vaccine supply for those who already qualify. . The United Center will be the only vaccination site where residents of Chicago and Cook County who are eligible for Phase 1B Plus can be vaccinated.
The United Center is one of 18 “federally established community vaccination centers” across the country that President Joe Biden’s administration highlighted on Friday as recently opened or in the coming weeks, which will be able to manage a combined total of 61,000 vaccines per day at full capacity.
These sites, including the United Center, were selected based on a number of criteria, including the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s “Social Vulnerability Index”.
This index helps employees “identify and map communities that are likely to need support before, during and after a dangerous event” taking into account “critical data points, including socioeconomic status, family composition, minority status, languages, type of housing and transportation, “said the White House.
Chicago and Cook County were identified as having a “significantly underserved and medically marginalized population,” said the White House, adding that the United Center is located in a “central and accessible” area with close public transportation and high capacity. To walk.
“The site will serve up to 2.9 million people who live within a 30-minute drive,” said the White House, noting that 22,000 people live less than a kilometer away from the arena.
“United Center is one of the best places to vaccinate a large number of people in America: it is easy to reach, it is in the midst of a medically underserved community, it can handle large crowds and it is well known to everyone in Illinois, “Pritzker said in a statement last week.
“I am deeply grateful to the Biden-Harris administration for working closely with us to bring this high capacity website, and I am particularly proud to have worked together to prioritize the elderly in this process, taking us even closer to ending this pandemic” he continued.