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.

One year ago, crews imploded the smokestack at the defunct Crawford coal plant, sending a plume of dust over Little Village but illuminating the impact that toxic air pollution caused by industrial operations has had on South and West side neighborhoods for decades.

The Chicago Teachers Union’s House of Delegates on Sunday evening voted to keep high school staffers out of schools beginning Wednesday as the union continues negotiating with CPS over how to safely reopen those schools.

The Illinois Department of Corrections will resume in-person visits at its facilities statewide over the next month, giving prisoners a chance to see their loved ones for the first time in more than a year.

The vaccines currently being rolled out across the U.S. offer strong protection against variants. But new studies of experimental updates to the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines mark a critical first step toward an alternative if the virus eventually outsmarts today’s shots.

The expansion of vaccine eligibility to any Illinois adult regardless of their age, health or employment does not include the city of Chicago. However, Chicagoans can travel outside of the city to be vaccinated, officials said, though supplies are still limited.

The number of coronavirus cases statewide continues to climb as officials reported Friday more than 4,000 new and probable cases, as well as 21 virus-related deaths.

The spread of the U.K. variant is helping to fuel a surge in COVID-19 cases in Chicago and across Illinois, according to Dr. Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health.

Suburban Cook County residents ages 16 and older will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine beginning Monday, and while eligibility in Chicago doesn’t expand until April 19, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said adults in Chicago are also “absolutely welcome” to sign up at any state-run mass vaccination site starting Monday.

A preliminary study from Johns Hopkins University finds that fewer than 20% of organ transplant patients generated an antibody response to their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The research raises questions about vaccine protection for those patients and others with weakened immune systems.

Suburban Cook County health officials are extremely concerned with the rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations but are holding off on reimposing mitigations to curb the spread of the virus, at least for now.