Cook County Schedules Appointments For 25,000 First-Dose Vaccinations, Uses 'Virtual Waiting Room' To Manage Traffic
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Appointments for 25,000 first-dose COVID-19 vaccinations were made available in Cook County on Sunday.
Cook County Health released the 25,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine for appointments at four suburban mass vaccination sites:
- Triton College, 2000 5th Ave, River Grove, IL
- South Suburban College, 15800 State St., South Holland
- Des Plaines vaccine site at 1155 E. Oakton St.
- Forest Park vaccine site at 7630 Roosevelt Rd.
CBS 2's Marissa Parra reported the appointments were snatched up in under two hours.
The county used a "virtual waiting room" to manage the influx of people seeking to make vaccination appointments.
"To improve the sign-up process and website performance, Cook County Health implemented a virtual waiting room. As part of the waiting room process, once the link is opened, a limited number of people were admitted to the booking page," a spokeswoman explained in a statement. "Visitors were admitted to the booking page from the waiting room on a first-come, first serve basis if vaccine was available when it was their turn."
People eligible under Phases 1A, 1B, 1B+, and some previously classified as 1C were allowed to register. That included healthcare workers, long-term care facility residents and staff, frontline essential workers, people age 65 and older, people with certain underlying health conditions, higher education workers, government employees, media, restaurant workers, construction trades workers, and religious leaders.
Anyone who has signed up for the county's database who were in Phase 1C but now meet the current state eligibility list for a vaccine got an email with instructions for scheduling an appointment.
All vaccinations are by appointment only. Appointments can be made at vaccine.cookcountyil.gov, or by calling 833-308-1988, Monday – Friday from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. The call center was open Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to accommodate this release.
