United Center Mass Vaccination Site To End Walk-Ins On Monday; Drive-Thru Site To Close June 24
CHICAGO (CBS) -- More than two months after opening a mass vaccination site in the parking lot of the United Center, city officials said the walk-in clinic will be closing on Monday, with the drive-thru site winding down operations one month later.
Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady tweeted Thursday that the United Center vaccination site has been a "tremendous success," with nearly 287,000 doses administered so far.
The walk-in portion of the United Center vaccination site will close on Monday, May 24, and the drive-thru portion will close one month later, on June 24, according to Arwady.
The announcement comes two weeks after Gov. JB Pritzker announced the Illinois Department of Public Health was making vaccines available to individual doctors' offices, including pediatricians' offices, now that the Pfizer vaccine is now available to children as young as 12. State officials have said community groups can also request an Illinois Department of Public Health mobile vaccination team to host a clinic in their community.
The United Center mass vaccination site first opened on March 10. The Illinois National Guard and soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army helped staff the site.
The clinic already had begun winding down operations, halting first-dose shots as of last week, and focusing on distributing one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccines, and second doses of the Pfizer vaccine to people who already got their first shot.
