CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Although 70% of suburbanites in Cook County have gotten two COVID shots, the county’s public health chief operating officer Dr. Lamar Hasbrouck said they have not continued.
“Only about 9% are up to date on their booster, which means this Omicron-specific booster, this bivalent,” Hasbrouck said.
Dr. Greg Huhn, the interim Chair of Infectious Disease and Vaccine Coordinator for Cook County Health, said they're concerned that not enough people have been getting the updated COVID booster.
“Historically, we know that the upcoming months typically leads to a surge in COVID,” Huhn said. “The weather is colder. In much of the country, including, certainly, here in Chicago, parties move indoors and multigenerational families are gathering for the holidays.”
Dr. Sharon Welbel, Cook County Health’s Director of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, has been tracking illness data across the world and locally.
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“I fully expect to see an explosion of influenza, RSV, COVID, and other respiratory viral illnesses this fall and winter,” Welbel said.
Cook County Health officials said they’re seeing more pediatric cases of RSV earlier this year — including among toddlers — not just babies with pre-existing conditions.
The thinking from those officials, including pediatrician Dr. Rosibell Arcia-Diaz, is that the more people who get boosted, the fewer hospital beds they’ll be taking up for other patients with respiratory illnesses.
Hasbrouck said they're offering mobile vaccinations and at-home visits in an effort to build on the low numbers his team has seen regarding booster shots in suburban Cook County.
“We are concerned, but we are trying to take the message that we’re working and engaging with communities and community leaders,” Hasbrouck said. “Hopefully we’ve built some good trust over the last two years.”
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