January 24 marks the three-year anniversary of the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Illinois.
Since that initial case, more than four million Illinoisans have been infected with the virus and over 36-thousand have died.
"We'll look through to see if we have a vaccine every year that can be updated," said Illinois Department of Public Health director Dr. Sameer Vohra. "I think it's going to teach us different ways to continue to practice those precautions to keep us from getting sick. But, I think it's also a test for us to best understand what is the future of our public health system."
Vohra says lessons learned during the pandemic helped guide the state's response to the M-Pox outbreak and to monitor travelers from areas where Ebola is a problem.
He adds that there is more work to be done to stop the spread of misinformation and to address health inequities.
