With the mass vaccination site at the United Center set to open Tuesday morning, Chicago’s top doctor acknowledged that getting an appointment has been “tricky” because of changing rules and a website that crashed under high demand.

As the nation’s campaign against the coronavirus moves from mass inoculation sites to drugstores and doctors’ offices, getting vaccinated remains a challenge for residents of “pharmacy deserts,” communities without pharmacies or well-equipped health clinics.

Officials are opening mass vaccination sites hoping they’ll correct disparities in COVID-19 vaccine distribution. Lower COVID-19 infections prompt Mayor Lori Lightfoot to relax restrictions on restaurants. And a return to in-person learning for Chicago high schoolers is floated. 

More than 27 million Americans fully vaccinated against the coronavirus will have to keep waiting for guidance from federal health officials for what they should and shouldn’t do.

While doses of three approved COVID-19 vaccines are still in short supply, Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday launched a $10 million public awareness campaign designed to encourage Black and Latino Illinoisans to get inoculated as soon as possible.

Vaccine hesitancy may have been an issue when vaccines were first being developed and rolled out, but now the main issues are equitable access and supply, according to a pair of local doctors.

President Joe Biden said the U.S. expects to take delivery of enough coronavirus vaccine for all adults by the end of May — two months earlier than anticipated — and he pushed states to get at least one shot into the arms of teachers by the end of March to hasten school reopenings.

Only two people who work or live at skilled nursing facilities in Chicago who were fully inoculated against COVID-19 have contracted the virus, showing that the vaccine is very effective, Dr. Allison Arwady told aldermen on Wednesday.

The first appointments for Illinois residents ages 65 and older to get the COVID-19 vaccine at the United Center mass vaccination site can be made starting Thursday morning. Here’s what you need to know about making an appointment.

The announcement comes as the White House looks to speed the production of the single-dose vaccine. Officials have said J&J faced unexpected production issues with its vaccine and produced only 3.9 million doses ahead of its receiving emergency use authorization on Saturday. 

The Cathedral of Grace St. John AME Church hosted a coronavirus vaccination clinic for Black suburban residents as part of a larger effort to vaccinate communities disproportionately impacted by the virus. 

The U.S. is getting a third vaccine to prevent COVID-19, as the Food and Drug Administration on Saturday cleared a Johnson & Johnson shot that works with just one dose instead of two.

U.S. health advisers endorsed a one-dose COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson on Friday, putting the nation on the cusp of adding an easier-to-use option to fight the pandemic.

Federal and state officials will open a mass vaccination site at the United Center on March 10 that could administer an additional 6,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine per day, officials announced Friday.

With the federal government ramping up its vaccine distribution efforts and a third vaccine potentially becoming available next week, Chicago could begin vaccinating more groups of residents in March, according to Dr. Allison Arwady.

Chicago could start receiving Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine in early March, Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said Wednesday.