Officials approved updated shots that have a single target, an omicron descendant named XBB.1.5. Last month, the CDC recommended the new shots for everyone 6 months and older.

About 66,900 Chicagoans, or 2.4% of the city population, have received the new vaccine since updated COVID-19 vaccines were recommended in mid-September, the Chicago Department of Public Health reports.

Some drugstores have addressed their challenges by adding employees at busy hours. But experts say many pharmacies, particularly the big chains, still don’t have enough workers behind the counter.

Amid many unanswered questions and the end of the federal COVID-19 public health emergency declaration earlier this year, long COVID patients remain in limbo as they continue to manage and live with their symptoms.

COVID-19 vaccines and flu shots will be available to everyone at no cost, regardless of insurance or immigration status.

The endorsement from the CDC and the committee means the vaccines will be covered by public and private insurance plans. The new vaccines have been updated to fend off the currently circulating viruses that cause COVID-19.

A US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory group is scheduled to meet to discuss COVID-19 vaccines Tuesday, meaning the vaccines could become available within just a few days, 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to give its nod to the updated vaccines in a few weeks. The announcement comes amid a late summer uptick in COVID-19.

Monday’s announcement from the NIH’s $1.15 billion RECOVER project comes amid frustration from patients who’ve struggled for months or even years with sometimes-disabling health problems.

Nearly nine out of 10 adults in the U.S. say that the benefits of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccines outweigh the risks – a share that’s remained unchanged since before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data published Tuesday by the Pew Research Center.

The U.N. health agency’s officials said that even though the emergency phase was over, the pandemic hasn’t ended, noting recent spikes in cases in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Despite the decline, about 1 out of every 13 deaths in the U.S. in 2022 was associated COVID-19. The virus killed nearly 245,000 people in 2022, CDC data shows.

The board ordered the city to rehire employees that were terminated after they refused to get the vaccine and awarded back pay – plus interest – to those employees who were disciplined because.

On Tuesday, the FDA changed the terms of the authorizations for those vaccines so that certain individuals could get an additional dose ahead of most others. 

The vaccines were more than 40% effective in preventing adults from getting sick enough from the flu that they had to go to a doctor’s office, clinic or hospital, health officials said during a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccines meeting Wednesday. 

The move to end the national emergency and public health emergency declarations would formally restructure the federal coronavirus response to treat the virus as an endemic threat to public health that can be managed through agencies’ normal authorities.