President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced new employer tax credits and other steps to encourage people reluctant to be inoculated to get the COVID-19 vaccine as his administration tries to overcome diminishing demand for the shots.

Getting a COVID-19 vaccine in suburban Cook County just got a little easier. Mass vaccination sites in Tinley Park and Matteson will accept walk-in appointments through Saturday in an effort to remove barriers to vaccination, according to officials.

“We need to send out the alarm to everyone that make sure that Black South Siders understand: You must get the vaccine. It is safe,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday after touring the city’s mass vaccination site at Chicago State University.

Visitors to Chicago from Wisconsin no longer have to quarantine for 10 days or record a negative test for COVID-19, city officials announced Tuesday, but Indiana could be added in two weeks.

Lutheran Child and Family Services says its anti-racism approach has made a big difference in outcomes for the children they serve.

The fourth quarter of the school year has begun for Chicago Public Schools. And on Monday, nearly 26,000 high school students were expected to return to their classrooms to resume in-person learning for the first time in more than a year.

The expansion of vaccine eligibility to any Chicago adult regardless of their age, health or employment comes a week after Gov. J.B. Pritzker ordered restrictions lifted on the state’s supply of vaccine from the federal government. Supplies of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine are still limited, however.

Half of all adults in the U.S. have received at least one COVID-19 shot, the government announced Sunday, marking another milestone in the nation’s largest-ever vaccination campaign but leaving more work to do to convince skeptical Americans to roll up their sleeves.

The United States will likely move to resume Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine this coming week, possibly with restrictions or broader warnings after reports of some very rare blood clot cases, the government’s top infectious diseases expert said Sunday.

Health officials recommended a pause on the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine this week after six people experienced rare but severe blood clots. We discuss the situation—and concerns about vaccine hesitancy—with Dr. Juanita Mora, an allergist and immunologist at the Chicago Allergy Center.

“Our young adults have a key role to play in bringing this pandemic to an end,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a statement Friday announcing state-supported mass vaccination sites will have appointments available specifically for college students starting this weekend.

In all, 888 cases involving the variant, known as B.1.1.7, have been found in samples of COVID-19 positive tests from Illinois since Jan. 15, officials said. 

Chicago Public Schools high school students will return to the classroom on Monday if teachers agree to the framework announced Thursday by the district and the Chicago Teachers Union.

The United States opened more distance between itself and much of the rest of the world Thursday, nearing the 200 millionth vaccine administered in a race to protect the population against COVID-19, even as other countries, rich and poor, struggle with stubbornly high infection rates and deaths.

The county has seen virus-related hospitalizations increase for 10 consecutive days; and for three days, the availability of intensive care unit beds has dipped below 20%, according to public health data reported Thursday.

 In the modest bungalows and two-flats of Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, there’s never a shortage of needed home repairs staring residents in the face. And then there is the less obvious but more ominous problem lurking in their pipes.