COVID Added To CDC Vaccine Schedule: What It Means For Illinois

ILLINOIS — This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added the COVID-19 vaccine to its list of recommended immunizations for children starting at 6 months old, as well as adults — but that doesn't mean Illinois schools will require them.

A CDC advisory committee voted unanimously to include COVID shots in the agency’s recommended immunization schedule, but that doesn't make them a requirement for school enrollment in Illinois or anywhere else.

CDC officials do think it’s a good idea for people to get inoculations against COVID, which has killed 1.06 million people in the U.S. and more than 35,000 in Illinois since the first laboratory-confirmed domestic case was reported in January 2020. But the agency isn't requiring the vaccinations as a condition for school enrollment. That authority falls on the states.

Last week, as data showed that 16 counties in Illinois were rated at Medium Community Level for COVID-19, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sameer Vohr urged parents and guardians to get children vaccinated and fully protected to avoid the most severe effects of COVID-19.

"I was pleased to see the CDC expand updated COVID-19 vaccines to include children aged 5 to 11 years old, " Vohra said in a statement. "This expansion comes at a critical time in Illinois and across the country, as we are seeing a sharp increase in severe childhood respiratory infections, resulting in a shortage of available pediatric hospital beds. The updated bivalent COVID-19 booster, along with the flu vaccine, give parents two powerful tools to protect their children from severe illness and hospitalization. With a surge in childhood respiratory illnesses already occurring, and the possibility of diseases like COVID-19 and the flu rising later this fall and winter, now is the best time to get these safe, effective vaccinations."

But that also doesn't make COVID-19 vaccines required — just recommended — for enrollment in Illinois schools.

What vaccines are required in Illinois schools?

Illinois — like most states — does require students to be required against childhood diseases, although the state does allow for religious exemptions. COVID-19 vaccines are not currently on the state's list of required vaccinations to enroll in Illinois schools.

Illinois requires students be vaccinated for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTaP vaccine); polio; measles, mumps and rubella (MMR vaccine); and, for kids under age 5, haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib vaccine) and invasive pneumococcal disease (PCV) vaccinations are required. For child care and preschool programs, children are required to receive the varicella vaccine.

Students entering sixth through 12th grade in Illinois are required to have three doses of hepatitis B vaccine, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Illinois students entering sixth through 11th grade are required to have one dose of the meningococcal disease (MCV4) vaccine, and students entering 12th grade are required to have two doses.

A year ago, Patch surveyed readers in Illinois, who were not in favor of a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for students.

No To Student Vaccine Mandate, Vaccinating Kids: IL Patch Readers

The survey was not a scientific poll, but only meant to give a broad idea of public sentiment. Of the more than 9,800 readers who responded, 60 percent said they are not in favor of a vaccine mandate for elementary, middle and high school students.

New variants emerge in Illinois, Midwest

Meanwhile, two COVID variants that Dr. Anthony Fauci has called "pretty troublesome" have emerged — if only slightly so far — in Illinois: BQ.1 and BQ.1.1. Both represent offshoots of the omicron variant, not only spreading quickly, but also showing remarkable abilities to evade immunity.

As of the most recent data reported on Oct. 16, BQ.1 represented just under 1 percent of cases, while BQ.1.1 accounted for half a percent of infections, according to IDPH's "variants of concern" data.

However, CDC regional data for Oct. 16 to 21 for the Midwest region — including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin — shows the BQ.1 variant representing 7.2 percent of cases regionally and the BQ.1.1 variant accounting for 6.4 percent of cases.

IDPH data showed that as of last week, the BA.5 omicron variant still made up more than 81 percent of Illinois cases. According to CDC data, it represented more than 66 percent of Midwest cases.

COVID-19 by the numbers in Illinois

While new COVID-19 variants have been identified in the U.S. and hospitalizations are up in some other states, Illinois hit its lowest hospitalization rate in four months in early October.

As of Friday, there were 1,001 patients in Illinois hospitalized with COVID-19 — up from 955 patients 10 days ago. Of those hospitalized with COVID-19, 118 patients were in the ICU. Just 4 percent of all Illinois hospital beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. A total of 38 Illinois COVID-19 patients were on ventilators — representing 3 percent of all patients on ventilators.

According to CDC data, there were 10,193 new COVID-19 cases in Illinois over the last seven days, down from 10,416 reported by IDPH for the week prior.

Seventy-three people in Illinois died from the virus in the past week, according to the CDC — up from 52 reported a week earlier by IDPH. Federal officials reported about 2,400 deaths from COVID-19 complications around the nation during that timeframe.

For more coronavirus numbers, visit the state health department's COVID-19 dashboard, variants of concern and hospitalization tracker, as well as CDC data for Illinois.

Josh Bakan, Patch Staff, contributed to this article