With the historic explosion of Illinois’ vaccine vaccination expected this week, thanks to the United Center being used as the largest mass vaccination center in the city, officials on Sunday announced major changes who are eligible to shoot at the Near West Side arena received in an effort to ensure that doses are readily available to the communities most affected by the pandemic.
As of Sunday afternoon, residents outside Cook County are no longer eligible for appointments on the United Center website. Meanwhile, anyone living within city limits who are eligible to receive the vaccine under Phase 1B + of the state’s distribution plan can register for appointments with the United Center. These include 18 and older with underlying health conditions, as well as people 65 and older.
Officials also set aside appointments for Chicago residents living in areas hardest hit by the virus and experiencing the highest number of illnesses and deaths; appointments are also set aside for community-based organizations that target their outreach to special populations in Chicago, including people with disabilities.
These decisions were taken under the auspices of FEMA to ensure a fairer distribution of the vaccine.
Officials have targeted the United Center as a center for mass vaccination for proximity to the most vulnerable communities in the city, but more than half of the appointments made in the past three days were made by people outside Chicago.
Early data indicated that only 40% of the more than 40,000 seniors who signed up for appointments at the United Center since Thursday morning were Chicago residents.
“Equity is central to our COVID-19 strategy, and as we strive to vaccinate the entire city, our commitment to equity is more important than ever,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement.
Tens of thousands of open appointments are available for the United Center, which is expected to deliver about 6,000 doses a day on Tuesday, officials said. To register, go to zocdoc.com/vaccine, or call (312) 746-4835. Call centers are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Illinois has administered more than 3.35 million doses of the vaccine over the past three months. On Saturday, 98,550 shots were fired into the arms of Illinois residents, which is the fifth highest single day total, officials said.
The state’s moving average number of shots fired per day is a high of 93,183.
While the COVID-19 vaccine is still picking up steam, Illinois also announced its smallest daily case study and one-day death toll in months on Sunday.
State health officials reported 1,068 new probable and confirmed cases of COVID-19, the fewest new cases recorded on a day since July 21st. Sunday’s cases were found daily among the 68,094 tests the Illinois Department of Public Health processed the last day. positivity rate of about 1.6%.
The daily case load in Illinois surpassed only twice in March, ten times in the past month and twice in March. As a result, the state’s seven-day positive percentage dropped to an all-time low. On Sunday, the figure, which experts use to measure the spread of the virus across the state, was 2.3% – a full percentage point from a month ago.
Officials also announced 14 deaths related to viruses, which is the smallest daily death toll since October. Five of the deaths were reported in the Chicago area.
Statebye hospitalizations also returned to pre-peak levels. As of Saturday night, 1,141 beds across the country were occupied by coronavirus patients, of whom 255 were in intensive care units and 112 were on ventilators, officials said.
It has been confirmed that nearly 1.2 million people in Illinois have had the virus processed under the more than 18.6 million tests in the past year. The state boasts a virus recovery rate of 98%.