Tempering good news about increased availability of COVID-19 vaccine in Illinois with the reality of rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, the state’s top doctor warned Thursday that the public should not let up on mask-wearing and social distancing.
“This resurgence is here,” Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, said as she appeared with Gov. JB Pritzker at a vaccination site in the Chicago suburb of Forest Park.
“Yes, we have a vaccine, and we are elated about that, but it doesn’t mean that this pandemic is completely over,” Ezike said.
She and Pritzker said people 16 and older throughout the state will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccine beginning Monday, though many areas, including Sangamon County, have offered expanded eligibility to that level for weeks.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker says state officials believe COVID-19 variants are coming at the population so fast that vaccinations need to be opened up to all ages.
SPRINGFIELD â Tempering good news about increased availability of COVID-19 vaccine in Illinois with the reality of rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, the state s top doctor warned Thursday that the public should not let up on mask-wearing and social distancing. This resurgence is here, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, said as she appeared with Gov. J.B. Pritzker at a vaccination site in the Chicago suburb of Forest Park.