The number of vaccinations is expected to increase as more appointments become available, including on the United Center vaccination site.
Vaccine reservations are open for people under 65, with skilled jobs or health conditions starting at 4 pm on Sunday.
Before Sunday afternoon, only people over 65 can register.
It is one of the most popular entrances to the city. Beginning Tuesday, 110,000 vaccine slots are scheduled to be administered in two United Center parking lots in what will be the largest mass vaccination site in Illinois.
Before the opening day, work continued to get everything ready. About 200 Air National Guard troops have been deployed from Kentucky to help manage the site, even as vaccinations continue in the city’s smaller neighborhood centers.
“I got a notification from my church, in fact, that they would deliver them to the Golden Dome,” said Theresa Hale, who received her vaccination Sunday. “I signed up. It was done, he gave me a date and a time to enter.”
Established as part of an ongoing effort to vaccinate more seniors, Garfield Park’s Golden Dome served as the third of 11 neighborhood pop-ups scheduled over a ten-day period, with 500 appointments being offered at each. The campaign is being led by the City of Chicago in partnership with Jewel.
“That’s really what this program is. This series is designed to try and reach hard-to-reach seniors,” said Candance Moore, Director of Equity for the Chicago Mayor’s Office. “It’s going to be more difficult for them to get to the United Center, or they need someone to call and support them to get there, so we’re putting it here in the community.”
Unlike traditional scheduling systems, which can be confusing and frustrating for many, the city has partnered with community groups, churches, and council offices to directly contact and register people for pop-ups.
“I lost some friends and just thinking about it today, it’s still, you know, it’s still tough,” said George Nunley, who also got vaccinated Sunday. “As I said, I am very happy and grateful.”
Monday’s pop-up is scheduled for the South Shore neighborhood. Interested parties can email [email protected] to register.
Vaccinations at the United Center will be delivered starting Tuesday.
The United Center will be the largest vaccine site in the state.
To register for an appointment at the United Center, visit www.zocdoc.com/vaccine or call the multilingual hotline (312) 746-4835 from 8 am to 8 pm Monday through Saturday and 8 am to 4 pm on Sunday .
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