A panel of U.S. health advisers has endorsed booster doses of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine

Youth COVID-19 cases continue to drop. The 5-11 year old age group is down to an average of 269 new coronavirus cases a day, a big decline from the peak average of 536 cases per day in early September.

U.S. health advisers said Thursday that some Americans who received Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine should get a half-dose booster to bolster protection against the virus.

As of late Wednesday, Illinois was down to 1,601 COVID-19 patients in the hospital. Of those, 357 were in intensive care units, the fewest in more than two months.

This interactive map shows how vaccinated the state of Illinois is by ZIP code, updated this week

New state data shows 72% of breakthrough COVID-19 hospitalizations in Illinois have come in the 65 and older population. As a whole, 99.968% of state's fully vaccinated population has not been hospitalized with a breakthrough infection.

The state’s seven-day rolling average for new cases fell to 2,416 cases per day, the lowest average since August 6

Drugmaker Merck has asked U.S. regulators to authorize its promising antiviral pill against COVID-19, setting the stage for a decision within weeks

The Illinois Department of Public Health updated the data it makes public for school-aged cases, including the percentage of emergency department visits for children for COVID-19 compared to RSV and influenza, going back to May