Austin residents can get the COVID-19 vaccine at two separate community sites starting March 12
Starting tomorrow, March 12, residents of Austin will have access to the COVID-19 vaccine at two separate locations in the community.
The Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) is collaborating with West Side hospitals to run two separate vaccination sites in Austin. The first is located at Amundsen Park, 6200 W. Bloomingdale, administered by The Loretto Hospital; the second site is run out of Catalyst Circle Rock Charter School at 116 N. Central., administered by Rush University Medical Center.
Vaccinations are available by appointment only on Fridays and Saturday between March 12 and April 17 for the Amundsen Park site, and Sundays only March 14 thru April 18 at Circle Rock. Appointments can be made by phone at (773) 996-7937 or online at rebrand.ly/Loretto for the Amundsen Park site; and by phone at (312) 563-0767 or online at Rush.edu/Austin for Circle Rock.
These sites are part of the city’s Protect Chicago Plus initiative that launched on Jan. 25, 2021, with the goal of ensuring that a significant part of the vaccine supply is delivered to 15 high-need communities based on their COVID-19 vulnerability index.
Equity has been the theme of the vaccine rollout. In a press conference to mark the opening of the United Center mass vaccination site on Tuesday March 9, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said, “Last week, 59% of vaccine doses went to Black and Latinx Chicagoan.”
During the same press conference Lightfoot and CDPH commissioner Dr. Allison Arawady confirmed that less than 40% of vaccine appointments initially booked at the United Center site were made by non-Chicagoans, more than 70% of which were white or Asian.
The sites in Austin are for Austin residents only. Yesterday, the city announced the inclusion of zip codes 60608, 60619, 60620, 60649, 60652, for the United Center vaccine site. However, after a few hours, the voucher code (CCVICHICAGO) for those area codes had reached its maximum usage, and complained on social media that they were no longer able to sign up. Calling the registration number has worked for some. If you live in those area codes, learn more details here.
