Get vaccinated for your mom this Sunday, health officials suggest
As COVID-19 vaccination fever wanes, Cook County officials urged suburbanites to roll up their sleeves for Mom this Sunday.
“This Mother's Day really is about next Mother's Day,” Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle said at a briefing Wednesday. “This year, all your mom wants for Mother's Day is for you to get your vaccine. It's one of the greatest gifts you can give your mother. You can walk into any mass site, it will cost you nothing and it could save your mother's life.”
Cook County Department of Public Health Co-Lead Rachel Rubin said she lost her mother and father to COVID-19 during the pandemic.
“Losing a parent to COVID-19 when your day job is spent trying to control spread of the disease is hard,” Rubin said. However, her college-age daughter recently was vaccinated, and “that was the best present she could ever give me.”
The appeal comes as the state hits a seven-day average of 71,219 shots in arms compared to 105,779 a day a month ago.
Cook County was set to give its 700,000th COVID-19 vaccine dose at a mass vaccination site Wednesday, Cook County Health CEO Israel Rocha said. Three vaccines are approved — Moderna's and Pfizer's two-dose versions and a one-dose shot from Johnson & Johnson.
Asked why numbers are lagging, Rocha said “we see a lot of individuals in the 18 to 40 age category who have resistance” to vaccines. In addition, Black and Hispanic residents aren't getting vaccinated at the same percentages as others, he added.
Young adults who consider themselves “invincible” are among the least likely to get vaccinated, Preckwinkle said.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Tuesday their expectations to reopen the city and state on July 4.
“We hope to do the same,” Rubin said. “I can't give you a direct 'yes,' but everything seems to be moving in the right direction” regarding COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.
As a further incentive to get vaccinated, the Chicago Federation of Music musicians will serenade during inoculations at mass sites in Des Plaines, Forest Park, Tinley Park and Matteson from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.