While Kanye West won’t force attendees of his next Donda listening event to be vaccinated against COVID-19, fans will be able to get inoculated on-site if they choose.
As reported by TMZ, a spokesperson for Chicago’s Soldier Field said they will offer more than 1,500 doses for interested attendees. The doses offered will be a split between the newly FDA-approved Pfizer vaccine and the one shot Johnson & Johnson, with officials from the Chicago Department of Health saying they’ll be on site to coordinate a time and date for Pfizer’s second dose.
Kanye himself isn’t requiring proof of vaccination in order to attend his next listening event, nor is he reportedly the one pushing for people to roll up their sleeves. Neither proof of vaccination nor a negative COVID test will be required to attend the event. ’Ye’s last listening event in Atlanta also offered vaccinations to those interested, but evidently only four people out of 40,000 decided to go for it.
“Kanye West’s performance is one of many examples that show that Chicago can be open and safe at the same time,” Chicago Park District spokeswoman Michele Lemons said in a statement to the Chicago Tribune. “We have worked with Soldier Field on Covid-19 safety protocols, as we have other venues including Wrigley and Guaranteed Rate Fields, and feel this event can be safely held with the proper mitigation efforts in place.”
The City of Chicago, ASM Global Management, and the officials who run Soldier Field are apparently the ones who coordinated the vaccination effort. The venue will only allow 38,000 fans inside, which is around 60 person of its capacity. Lemons said she believes this to be enough of an effort to curb the spread of COVID’s Delta variant.
Kanye’s latest Donda event is sure to be a spectacle. The rapper is apparently recreating his childhood home for the occasion, and it was also reported that yesterday he legally filed to change his name from Kanye West to Ye. Only time will tell whether the filing comes through, but needless to say Donda’s album rollout continues to be unpredictable.
