Vaccines

The Southern 7 Health Department (S7HD) is spearheading efforts to remind families about the importance of routine immunizations as students prepare to return to school.

It is important to remember that unvaccinated students who do not have proof of immunity may be excluded from school during disease outbreaks, putting their education and health at risk.

Encouraging families to schedule their child's routine back-to-school vaccination appointments now to avoid the last minute rush in August.

RSV is expected to be prevalent this winter. So, one OSF provider says it's important to follow the guidelines on getting a vaccine.

The Illinois Department of Public Health is endorsing federal recommendations regarding the RSV vaccine.

Covid and Flu Vaccines will be available to homebound residents next month.

The COVID information will now be released every other week.

The FDA has approved the Bivalent booster for anyone age 5 or older and can be mix and matched with any previous vaccine. The new booster protects against the original strain and the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 that are more contagious, but less harmful.

The disease is caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox.

Anyone born before 1991 may be unvaccinated.