Walgreens, Jewel-Osco, Walmart and Cook County now scheduling COVID-19 vaccine appointments

Lisa Schencker, Chicago Tribune
·2 min read

Walgreens, Jewel-Osco, Walmart and suburban Cook County are now scheduling COVID-19 vaccine appointments for eligible Chicago-area residents.

The state has also launched a website where people can find vaccination locations and use links to make appointments at https://coronavirus.illinois.gov/s/vaccination-location.

The retail pharmacies and county began scheduling appointments as the state moved into phase 1b of COVID-19 vaccinations Monday, which includes people ages 65 and older and front-line essential workers such as teachers and public transportation and grocery store employees. Many hospital systems have also started sending out electronic invitations to senior patients to make appointments for the shots.

The online sign-ups, however, come amid extremely limited doses of the vaccines, meaning appointments can be tough to come by.

Illinois is expecting about 120,000 first doses of vaccine this week, not including those going to Chicago, “because of federal supply limitations,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a news conference Monday. About 3.2 million seniors and essential workers in Illinois are eligible for the vaccine as part of this phase.

Walgreens is vaccinating seniors and essential workers at 92 sites across Illinois, according to Pritzker’s office, and appointments can be made at https://www.walgreens.com/findcare/vaccination/covid-19. Starting Tuesday, Jewel-Osco is allowing people to make appointments online at https://www.mhealthappointments.com/covidappt for shots at its stores, according to the governor’s office.

Walmart is taking appointments for seniors and essential workers at six of its stores in Chicago at https://www.walmart.com/cp/1228302. The Cook County Department of Public Health began scheduling appointments Monday at vaccine.cookcountyil.gov and (833) 308-1988.

“While we’re excited to be taking these steps, I want to be sure we set clear expectations,” Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said at a news conference Monday. “At this moment, demand is heavily outweighing our supply of vaccines.”

CVS Health was not, as of Monday, making vaccinations available to seniors or essential workers at its Illinois stores, spokesman Charlie Rice-Minoso. CVS and Walgreens have contracted with the federal government to vaccinate residents of long-term care facilities.