University Medical Center will take registrations for 5,000 first-dose COVID-19 vaccinations starting at 6 p.m. this evening. 

Registrations can be made at UMC’s website until all the vaccines are spoken for, which will take only a few minutes. 

Vaccines are available for people in the following categories: 

Group/Category 1A — First responders and health-care personnel who are essential to keeping the health-care system intact.  

Group/Category 1B —People 65 years of age and older and those 16 years of age and older with at least one chronic medical condition.

School and child-care personnel — Those who work in pre-primary, primary, and secondary schools; Head Start and Early Head Start programs (including teachers, staff, and bus drivers); and those who work as or for licensed child care providers, including center-based and family care providers.

Also, UMC will have reservations just for people 65 and over at 9 a.m. Thursday. The hospital has set aside 1,000 doses for seniors. Reservations can be made through the UMC website or by calling 915-200-2700. Don’t try to register or call for this event before 9 a.m. Thursday.

UMC plans to discontinue this reservation process once it consolidates vaccine registrations with the city, but no date has been set.