Still Need to Get Vaccinated Against COVID-19? City Will Jab You at Home


Video: Chicago is trying new ways to get COVID-19 shots in the arms of people reluctant to get vaccinated. Amanda Vinicky reports.


All Chicagoans older than 12 can now get vaccinated against COVID-19 at home — for free — through a program run by the Chicago Department of Public Health.

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As many as 10 people can get vaccinated during one visit from the city’s Project Chicago at Home program, which launched in March with a focus on elderly and sick Chicagoans unable to leave their homes and is now open to every Chicagoan, officials said.

Those who choose to get vaccinated at home will get a $50 gift card from food delivery company Grubhub, said Dr. Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health. The Pfizer vaccine will be available to those older than 12 as well as the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for those older than 18.

The gift cards can be used to order food at any restaurant available through Grubhub, which will donate $100,000 in gift cards to the city, officials said.

Chicagoans can make an appointment to get vaccinated by calling 312-746-4835 or going to chicago.gov/athome.

Chicago is the only city offering in-home vaccinations on demand in the United States, Arwady said.

For those who haven’t yet been vaccinated but are more interested in a raucous night on the town than a quiet dinner at home, those vaccinated at one of four city-run sites on Saturday can get a free one-day pass to Lollapalooza, Arwady said.

Appointments are required to get the passes, officials said.

Officials will have 1,200 passes to give away at four city colleges, which will be transformed “into a Lollapalooza experience” with DJs and giveaways. Those vaccinated at Wilbur Wright College will get passes for July 29; passes for July 30 will be available at Richard J. Daley College; passes for July 31 will be available at Kennedy King College; and passes for Aug. 1 will be available at Malcolm X College, officials said. 

Passes will be available for pickup July 10 “at a special Protect Chicago Music Series concert event at the House of Blues, featuring a Lollapalooza artist,” officials said. To pick up a pass, attendees must bring a vaccination card issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a photo identification card, officials said.

Information on how those who are already vaccinated can get free tickets to Lollapalooza will be available on Tuesday, officials said.

An average of 42 Chicagoans have been diagnosed each day with the coronavirus during the past week, a 37% decrease from the previous week, according to Chicago Department of Public Health data. 

The city’s test positivity rate has dropped to 0.6% from 0.8% during the past seven days, even as the number of tests performed dropped 22%, according to city data.  

That data represents an all-time low for test positivity and cases in Chicago since the start of pandemic, officials said.

The COVID-19 pandemic will be “controlled” when there are fewer than 20 COVID-19 cases per day on average, officials said.

Daily hospitalizations have fallen by 55% in the past seven days, and 63.3% of all Chicagoans older than 12 have gotten at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to city data.

White Chicagoans are more likely to have been vaccinated against COVID-19 than Black or Latino Chicagoans, according to city data.

More than 60% of White and Asian Chicagoans have received at least the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, outpacing Black and Latino Chicagoans who are significantly more likely to contract the virus and experience severe illness or die, according to city data through Wednesday.

Approximately 37.5% of Black Chicagoans have gotten the first shot, while more than 45% of Latino Chicagoans have gotten at least one dose, according to the city’s data.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]

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