CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) – The Chicago Department of Public Health is urging people to get vaccinated because the weather is about to get colder and the risk of respiratory illness increases.
The city's public health commissioner, Dr. Simbo Ege, wants people to be vaccinated against coronavirus, influenza and, in some cases, respiratory syncytial virus.
“We know that the coronavirus has hit us hard over the last four years,” Ige said Thursday. “We have lost a lot of people, and now we are in a good position with the coronavirus in terms of the death rate, and the reason for that is because a lot of people have gotten vaccinated… We want to maintain that trend.
“We have gone from several hundred deaths due to COVID-19 to now where we have barely any deaths due to COVID-19 across all races and ethnicities.”
She said it's especially important for people 65 and older who have heart disease or diabetes to get an updated coronavirus shot.
Getting vaccinated could save your life, Ige added.
“You need to get the flu vaccine every year, and now you need to get the COVID vaccine every year, because these viruses are smart,” she said. “They twist and change and tweak their offering every year, so we tweak the vaccines and make sure the vaccines are updated and upgraded to respond to whatever is going around.
“It may not prevent you from getting sick at all, but it keeps you from having to use a ventilator, and it keeps you from dying from the disease.”
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