Black and Latino residents of suburban Cook County, who are more likely to contract COVID-19 and experience severe illness and die, are getting vaccinated at a slower pace than whites and Asians, according to public health officials.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine will remain in limbo for a while longer after government health advisers declared Wednesday that they need more evidence to decide if a handful of unusual blood clots were linked to the shot — and if so, how big the risk really is.

More than 1.5 million COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in suburban Cook County. While the pace of vaccinations is ramping up, infections are rising, keeping contact tracers busy doing vital work to stop the spread of the virus, officials say.

In 2012, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration closed half of the city’s clinics. Mayor Lori Lightfoot campaigned on reopening the centers but has focused her tenure so far on investing in organizations that provide mental health services.

The U.S. on Tuesday recommended a “pause” in use of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to investigate reports of rare but potentially dangerous blood clots, setting off a chain reaction worldwide and dealing a setback to the global vaccination campaign.

Health officials said they were acting “out of an abundance of caution” following six cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot in individuals who got the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

U.S. health officials on Tuesday recommended pausing vaccinations with J&J’s shot as they look into reports of six clots out of nearly 7 million doses given in the country.

Islamic leaders are using social media, virtual town halls and face-to-face discussions to spread the word that it’s acceptable to be vaccinated for the coronavirus during daily fasting that happens during Ramadan, the most sacred month of the year for Muslims.