Citing rising COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths, suburban Cook County officials announced Thursday patrons age 5 and up entering restaurants, bars, gyms and movie theaters, among other venues, will need to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 starting Jan. 3.

Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Allison Arwady instituted the requirement Tuesday, as increases in COVID-19 cases have seen the positivity rate rise to 7.3%  – past the point of rapid spread.

Moderna said lab tests showed the half-dose booster shot increased by 37 times the level of so-called neutralizing antibodies able to fight omicron. 

Cook County and state officials are hosting a one-day mass vaccination clinic at three suburban locations for all eligible residents.

Most Americans should be given the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines instead of the Johnson & Johnson shot that can cause rare but serious blood clots, U.S. health officials said Thursday.

The ruling gives the unions’ employees until Dec. 31 to get their first shot of one of the three approved COVID-19 vaccines, and until Jan. 31 to get the second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer BioNtech vaccines.

The findings released Tuesday are preliminary and have not been peer-reviewed — the gold standard in scientific research — but they line up with other early data about omicron's behavior, including that it seems to be more easily transmitted.

The U.S. on Tuesday hit another depressing pandemic milestone — 800,000 deaths. It’s a sad coda to a year that held so much promise with the arrival of vaccines but is ending in heartbreak for the many grieving families trying to navigate the holiday season.

Earlier in the pandemic, the program began by focusing on contact tracing. But it has since expanded to meet other needs – like scheduling vaccine appointments and working the city’s COVID-19 hotline. 

The nation’s COVID-19 death toll stands at around 800,000 as the anniversary of the U.S. vaccine rollout arrives. A year ago, it stood at 300,000. 

No appointment necessary. All three approved vaccines – Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson – will be available for adults who can mix-and-match their booster. Only the Pfizer vaccine has been authorized for 16- and 17-year-olds.

COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are surging. Doctors believe that’s still due to the delta variant though it’s expected Illinois will soon see more cases of the omicron variant as well. A key White House advisor tells us how the nation’s ready to tackle it with an eye toward equity.

Dr. Allison Arwady said “preliminary conversations” were taking place with representatives of business groups about requiring proof of vaccination or a negative test for diners or revelers, but no decision had been made.

The U.S. and many other nations already were urging adults to get booster shots to pump up immunity that can wane months after vaccination, calls that intensified with the discovery of the worrisome new omicron variant.

New cases in the U.S. climbed from an average of nearly 95,000 a day on Nov. 22 to almost 119,000 a day this week, and hospitalizations are up 25% from a month ago. 

Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said that while two doses may not be protective enough to prevent infection, lab tests showed a booster increased by 25-fold people’s levels of virus-fighting antibodies.