Researchers are beginning to test younger and younger kids to make sure COVID-19 vaccines are safe and work for each age. The first shots are going to adults who are most at risk from the coronavirus, but ending the pandemic will require vaccinating children too.

For the second year in a row, Chicago’s Jewish and Christian communities are preparing to celebrate Passover and Easter amid the COVID-19 pandemic. For some, that means coming together with friends and loved ones over Zoom. For others, it will be a mix of online worship and in-person celebration.

For the latest in our reporting series, we visit the diverse Northwest Side community to see how it’s supporting Asian American residents amid a rise in anti-Asian rhetoric and violence. 

Twenty-nine cases of a COVID-19 variant first discovered in Southern California and believed to be more transmissible have been discovered in Illinois, state health officials announced Thursday.

The pandemic has exposed disparities in access, experts say. A look at the ongoing efforts to make vaccine distribution more equitable and the need to continue those efforts in a post-pandemic world.

Chicago will not allow businesses to increase their capacity indoors amid an “alarming” increase in COVID-19 cases and illnesses, but they will be allowed to serve more customers outside, officials announced Thursday. “We are seeing a very disturbing trend,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot told reporters.

Top U.S. health officials say they’re in a race to vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible as COVID-19 variants spread, mask and distancing rules are relaxed, and Americans crave a return to normalcy.

Illinois may have as much as a quarter of all lead service pipes in the country, according to U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who is leading the push for a bipartisan infrastructure bill to rebuild the nation’s water systems. We discuss what else is being done to address the issue.

Dr. Anosh Ahmed, COO and CFO of Loretto Hospital, was at the center of multiple controversies over alleged improper vaccination events, after Block Club Chicago first reported on vaccines administered at Trump Tower Chicago to the building’s employees.

A union representative who works with Loretto Hospital staff says members have complained about so-called VIP lists of vaccine recipients since the vaccine rollout began in January.

Approximately 84% of all Chicagoans will be eligible to get the vaccine starting Monday, according to rules set by Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

A Loretto Hospital emergency room technician who appeared Tuesday on “Chicago Tonight” said he witnessed what he calls “VIP” lines of patients coming in to be vaccinated at the West Side hospital.

Dr. Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said the uptick in virus cases in Michigan is of special concern because it appears to be driven in part by the spread of more transmissible variants of COVID-19.

Confirmed cases of the coronavirus have risen 23% in Chicago during the past seven days, prompting Chicago’s top health official, Dr. Allison Arwady, to say Tuesday she is “really worried” the city could be on the cusp of another surge of the pandemic.

Results from a U.S. trial of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine may have included “outdated information” and that could mean the company provided an incomplete view of efficacy data, American federal health officials said early Tuesday.

Vaccine eligibility in Illinois will open up to everyone by April 12, but there are a lot of different windows of eligibility leading up to that date.