A popular website used by the city of Chicago to help register residents for COVID-19 vaccine appointments is about to get even busier, as more than 100,000 appointments will open up for a mass vaccination site at the United Center.
According to officials, the appointments will be available for residents age 65 and older beginning at 8:30 a.m. Thursday. Any appointments left after Sunday will then be made available for Illinois residents who are 18 or older and have pre-existing conditions that make them eligible for the vaccine, including obesity, diabetes, cancer and other comorbidities.
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Those appointments will be available on Zocdoc beginning on Thursday morning. Site owners say that they are expecting higher-than-average volume when the vaccination appointments open up, and that the site will show real-time appointment availability.
Date of birth will be required when booking the appointment to confirm that a resident is eligible to receive the vaccine, according to officials.
A call center will also be available at 312-746-4835, but officials are warning that higher-than-usual volume to the call center could result in extended wait times, so they are encouraging residents to use the Zocdoc website.
The United Center site will operate seven days a week for eight weeks, and is expected to administer up to 6,000 shots per day at full capacity. Vaccinations at the site will be available at no cost and insurance is not required.
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If residents want to use the Zocdoc site for other vaccination sites, they can do that as well. Residents will need to visit the site to fill out a brief questionnaire to determine whether they are eligible for the vaccine, and if they qualify they will be directed to a vaccine booking page to set up an appointment at one of the city’s vaccination sites.
If there are no upcoming appointments available, residents can sign up for an alert to receive word of when appointments open up at the facilities, which are located all across the city.