CDPH Announces Changes at City-Run Vaccination Sites

Closures include mass vaccination site at the United Center, which played major role in City’s equitable vaccination rollout

The Chicago Department of Public Health announced the closure and planned decommissioning of a number of City-run vaccination sites as it continues to focus on hyperlocal distribution to reach Chicagoans who still need a COVID-19 vaccination. More than 20% of total COVID-19 doses administered in Chicago have been given at City-run vaccination sites — five Points of Dispensing (or PODs) at City Colleges of Chicago locations and the United Center. 

The Chicago State University drive-thru closed on Saturday, June 19, but there is still a walk-in vaccination site at CSU, open for appointments or walk-ups. Thursday, June 24, will be the final day of operations at the United Center vaccination site, run by the City of Chicago in partnership with County and State partners.

As the United Center closes, a vaccination site at Malcom X College will re-open on June 28, administering the Pfizer vaccine, operating Monday through Friday from 1PM to 7PM and Saturdays from 9AM to 3PM.

As the City transitions away from fixed vaccination sites, it continues to offer vaccine at dozens of neighborhood-based pop-up and mobile vaccination events, including at churches, food pantries, farmers markets, parks and beaches, CTA “L” stops and more. Visit Chicago.gov/VaxCalendar to find a vaccination event in a community near you. In addition, COVID vaccines will be offered at CDPH immunization clinics throughout the city when they re-open in July, and CDPH just announced the expansion of its At Home program and now anyone 12 and older can make an appointment to get vaccinated in their home. People can make an appointment by calling 312-746-4835 or going to www.chicago.gov/athome.

Additional changes are planned for next month. Chicago State University’s walk-up will close on Saturday, July 3. The City’s partnership with CSU was a critical part of the City’s vaccine equity strategy: 62 percent of the more than 12,000 vaccines administered there went to Black residents and 15 percent went to LatinX residents. It also provided critical access to the COVID-19 vaccine on the far south side, as more than half of the doses administered went to people living in the surrounding zip codes. 

In addition, City vaccination sites at Kennedy King College, Richard J. Daley College, and Wilbur Wright College will offer first doses of the Pfizer vaccine only through Saturday, July 3 before officially closing on Saturday, July 24.

United Center By-the-Numbers

Before opening in March, the United Center went from an empty parking lot to a fully-operational, federal mass vaccination site in just 11 days and has administered more than 300,000 vaccinations – the majority to Chicagoans – at the site’s walk-up and drive thru clinics. A few highlights:

  • The City of Chicago became one of the first nationally to extend its equity strategy to mass vaccination sites — making appointments available to the residents who were most impacted by COVID-19. As a result, 45% of the Chicago residents vaccinated at the site were Black or Latinx. By prioritizing zip codes with the highest rate of COVID-19, we saw communities like Pilsen go from some of the lowest vaccinated rates to the highest.

  • The site’s ADA tent, which FEMA has adapted as a model and requirement for future Tier 1 sites, served nearly 17,000 who requested disability support. The tent was designed to limit the amount of moving around from station-to-station that these individuals have to do – instead, the various elements of the vaccine process come directly to the individual.

  • More than 60,000 translations were done on-site — primarily Spanish, but live translators for Arabic, American Sign Language, Chinese/Mandarin, Chinese/Cantonese and Polish were also available, in addition to other translations using the Department of Defense’s tablet translation service.

All COVID-19 vaccines are offered at no cost to everyone, no insurance or ID required. For information about COVID-19 vaccines in Chicago, visit Chicago.gov/COVIDvax.

COVID-19Guest User