Lightfoot defends decision to limit United Center mass vaccination site to Chicago residents

A day before the mass vaccination site at the United Center is set to open, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday defended a last-minute policy shift that led to some confusion about who could score an appointment at the West Side location.

The change, which city and state officials said was directed by the federal government, limits the United Center site to Chicago residents.

“We wanted to make sure that people who were most in need were getting the vaccines,” Lightfoot said.

Chicago public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said she expects the United Center site to eventually be open to all Illinois residents. Arwady promised more details Tuesday, when the site is scheduled for a “soft opening” before a full-blown opening Wednesday.

As of Sunday, more than 40,000 seniors had booked appointments at the United Center since registration began Thursday, but fewer than 40% of them were Chicago residents.

Lightfoot said that disparity led to discussions about making sure the appointments were open to more Black and Latino city residents. The decision to pivot was made so Chicago residents could get the “lion’s share” of the appointments.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said that as a result of weekend negotiations with the Federal Emergency Management Agency over the United Center vaccination policy, the state is securing additional vaccine doses on top of its usual allotment, which will be used at federally run mobile vaccination sites outside Chicago.

“FEMA came late in the game here and decided they wanted to change things,” Pritzker said. “And it took a little while for the city of Chicago, FEMA and the state to come to some understanding of what the best way to move forward was.”

Appointments made before 4 p.m. Sunday by people under 65 with underlying health conditions, who are eligible for a shot under state rules but not under the city’s policy, were canceled. Anyone who is still eligible to be vaccinated at the United Center under the new rules but had an appointment canceled should contact the city, Pritzker said.

Illinois public health officials said another 29,564 coronavirus vaccinations were administered in Illinois Sunday. That’s the lowest daily count since 13,433 doses were given Feb. 20.

Sunday’s vaccinations brought the statewide total to 3,387,778. The number of Illinois residents who have been fully vaccinated — receiving both of the required shots — reached 1,152,020, or 9.04% of the total population, state officials said.

Over the past seven days, the state averaged 90,135 vaccines administered daily.

Officials on Monday reported 1,182 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and five additional fatalities. While COVID-19 data tends to trend lower on Mondays, the number of fatalities is the lowest in Illinois since just one death was reported Aug. 10.

The total number of known infections in Illinois since the pandemic began is 1,199,517, and the statewide death toll is 20,767.

The seven-day statewide positivity rate for cases as a share of total tests was 2.3% as of Sunday. Monday’s new cases resulted from a batch of 39,636 tests.

As of Sunday night, 1,178 people in Illinois were hospitalized with COVID-19, with 266 patients in intensive care units and 118 patients on ventilators.