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CHICAGO (CBS)– “Take the shot” will soon have a new meaning at the United Center. The parking lot at the Madhouse on Madison is about to become a mass vaccination site.
In an announcement Friday morning, Gov. JB Pritzker’s office and the Federal Emergency Management Agency said the Biden administration is opening a major new Community Vaccination Center in the United Center parking lot on March 10, with the capacity to administer 6,000 vaccine doses per day.
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The site will operate seven days a week for eight weeks under the federal government’s vaccination pilot program.
All of those doses will come directly from the federal government, and will not be taken out of the state’s or city’s regular allotment of vaccines.
Gov. JB Pritzker, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, and FEMA Region 5 Administrator Kevin Sligh Sr. are expected to formally announce the project later Friday.
The White House said the site was chosen because it not only is centrally located and easily accessible, but is in an underserved area of Chicago.
“The goal of establishing these joint federal pilot centers is to continue to expand the rate of vaccinations in an efficient, effective and equitable manner, with an explicit focus on making sure that communities with a high risk of COVID-19 exposure and infection are not left behind,” the White House said in a statement.
The governor’s office said vaccinations at the United Center site will be available by appointment only, with seniors given first priority to sign up before the site opens. After the site opens on March 10, registration will open for anyone eligible for the vaccine in the state’s Phase 1B+, which includes essential workers, people age 65 or older, and anyone age 16 and up with an underlying health condition such as cancer, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, a heart condition, an immunocompromised state from an organ transplant, obesity, pregnancy, pulmonary disease, or sickle cell disease.
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Preparations already were underway Friday morning, as trucks carrying some of the equipment needed to launch the vaccination site had arrived at the stadium.
“We’re going to have a big mass vaccination site right here on Madison where Michael Jordan played,” said Illinois State Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago), whose district includes underserved West Side neighborhoods. “It will be set up in the parking lot. There will be no [vaccination] activity on the inside of the United Center.”
Crews were out Friday morning clearing the snow outside the United Center and in the parking lot, all in preparation for its new role on Chicago’s West Side.
Ford said this site was chosen because it’s in a community that’s been hit hard by COVID-19, and is still fighting to recover. So this move will help raise the number of people on the West Side who get the vaccine.
“It sends a message that it’s important that Black people receive the vaccine,” Ford said.
Ford said the initiative is because of a federal program; part of President Joe Biden’s goal of vaccinating as many people in the country as possible.
“You will see that this is will be rolled out across the country. Many cities will have setups like this,” Ford said.
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Meantime, Ford hopes seeing a vaccination site at the United Center – a place people typically associate with fun – will encourage those in the community and the rest of the state to get vaccinated when it’s their turn.
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