For elementary school-aged kids, Pfizer tested a much lower dose – a third of the amount that’s in each shot given now. Yet after their second dose, children ages 5 to 11 developed coronavirus-fighting antibody levels just as strong as teenagers and young adults.

Five more McHenry County schools reported COVID-19 outbreaks on Friday, bringing the total to 12.

An influential federal advisory panel rejected a plan Friday to give Pfizer COVID-19 booster shots to most Americans, but it endorsed the extra shots for those who are 65 or older or run a high risk of severe disease.

New COVID-19 cases in Illinois children are down for the first time in 10 weeks, and total COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to fall

Transmission of COVID-19 remains high in McHenry County as the area’s positivity rate has stabilized around 4.5%, where it sat after a slight rise Thursday, the McHenry County Department of Health reported.

Illinois now has more than 6.9 million people fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and covid patients in Illinois hospitals dropped to the lowest level since August 28.

The number of new COVID-19 cases in McHenry County remains high even as the positivity rate fell to 4.4%, the McHenry County Department of Health reported Wednesday.

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

Analysis of new hospital admissions for covid-like illness in the state over the past week put breakthrough hospitalizations at 14.1% of new COVID-19 hospitalizations in Illinois, with unvaccinated patients making up 85.9% of COVID-19 hospitalizations for the week