Covid-19 Mass Vaccination Site to Open Tomorrow at United Center

While this isn't necessarily a specific Sloop story, we still think it's important to highlight positive developments on the front to fight Covid-19.  As was reported a couple days ago, the United Center is going to serve as a mass vaccination site run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) - via Chicago Tribune: 

Officials announced last week the United Center would open up and inoculate 6,000 people per day against the coronavirus, with those 65 or older going first. The mass vaccination site was a joint effort by local, state and federal governments to help vaccination rates in older Illinoisans and communities hardest hit by the pandemic.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will play the leading role in operating the site, with shots administered in tents in Parking Lot E at the northeast corner of the stadium. The site is scheduled to be open for eight weeks under the federal program.

Illinois residents age 65 or older can start making appointments for the United Center mass vaccination site Thursday morning, officials announced Tuesday.

The site on the Near West Side won’t open until March 9 — a day earlier than officials had announced last week — but registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Arwady said.

Starting that day, there will be more than 110,000 slots for those 65 or older, who can register at zocdoc.com/vaccine or call 312-746-4835, Arwady said. The call center will be monitored Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Through a city partnership with Uber, 20,000 free rides also will be available to those residents who need help getting to the appointment and back after they sign up.

If there are still open slots by 4 p.m. Sunday, the United Center site will allow sign-ups for the rest of Illinois residents under phase 1b, which includes front-line workers in essential industries and, for most non-Cook County residents, adults with existing health conditions.

The United Center will be administering the Pfizer vaccine, and the 110,000 appointments opening up later this week will be for the rest of March, with more to come afterward. For the first couple of weeks, residents will walk into large, climate-controlled tents for their injections, and drive-in appointments will possibly be added in the third week so people can stay in their cars, Arwady said.

“The bottom line is: Get ready to make your appointments,” she said.

While you may not be eligible in this immediate round of vaccinations, it does seem like things are progressing and it's just a matter of time.

We're unsure if any vaccinations are being administered in the Sloop currently, but clearly there are a bunch of locations around the city that are and the United Center is a short drive (or CTA ride) away.

So as the last line of the blurb says - get ready!