University Medical Center will take registrations for 4,000 first-dose COVID-19 vaccinations starting at 6 p.m. this evening. Registrations for seniors and educators will be available Thursday.

Registrations today can be made at UMC’s website starting at 6 p.m., 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.

UMC also will have reservations just for a limited group on Thursday — people 65 and over, school personnel and child-care workers. 

A thousand appointments will be available through the UMC website at 6 p.m. Thursday. Another 725 appointments will be available by phone at 9 a.m. Thursday by calling 915-200-2700. 

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

Cover photo: A University Medical Center nurse discusses the COVID-19 vaccine with a patient at the El Paso County Coliseum vaccination hub. (Photo courtesy of University Medical Center)