Vaccine

When the U.S. ended its COVID-19 public health emergency on May 11, it changed the way hospitals are supplied with vaccine doses. CGH Medical Center's order of 50 doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine currently is on backorder.

The preliminary results buoy hope that after decades of failure and frustration, vaccines against RSV may finally be getting close.

The Whiteside County Health Department is offering the updated Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 bivalent booster doses at its clinic at 1300 W. Second St. in Rock Falls.

Second doxes part of Milledgeville vaccine clinic

A COVID-19 vaccination clinic is scheduled for next week in DeKalb Township, according to a news release.

Bob Manam, a doctor and infectious disease specialist with Northwestern Medicine who’s spent the past nearly 530 days working the COVID-19 wards at Kishwaukee and Valley West hospitals, said there’s been a “notable uptick” in virus-related admissions in the past two weeks in DeKalb County. Who are the patients? "By far, it is the unvaccinated," he said.

DeKalb County Health Department’s new mobile health unit, obtained through a collective community effort to pool funds, is being rolled out for use around the county, and will be at Kishwaukee College Wednesday and Thursday offering walk-in COVID-19 vaccines.

DeKalb County residents who still need the COVID-19 vaccine may have an even easier time accessing it now, as the DeKalb County Health Department announced Tuesday its received a mobile vehicle which allows them to take the vaccine directly to residents.

Less than a month into her new role leading the county’s largest school district, Minerva Garcia-Sanchez and the DeKalb school board have a significant decision to make: Will DeKalb District 428 require masks when school returns in a few weeks? “Being a leader in education means that you have to be a team player," she said.

The Twin City Farmers Market will have a free vaccine clinic from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, July 3.

The DeKalb County Health Department is offering free walk-in COVID-19 vaccinations weekdays at its DeKalb building, no appointments needed.

As of Wednesday, DeKalb County reports more than 38%, or nearly 40,000 people out of the 104,000 countywide population, are fully vaccinated against the virus. With that in mind, local health officials said they support the plan to fully reopen Friday.

Amid a drop in local COVID-19 vaccine demand which so far has seen just shy of 35% of the county's population fully vaccinated, the DeKalb County Health Department will shift gears to a new vaccine distribution model, and announced this week the Illinois National Guard has ended its deployment.

On Thursday, 12-year-old Henry Williams of Sycamore received his first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. He compared the shot to a bee sting or getting hit with a NERF gun dart. “My parents already received their first shot, so I’m all for it,” Williams said.

“A challenge I foresee is how we’re going to verify which students and staff are vaccinated because we must maintain privacy and confidentiality,” Wilder said. “We just have to make sure to find a way that everyone is staying safe and following the guidelines.” Local school, business officials react to CDC’s new guidance regarding mask-wearing for fully vaccinated.