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11-year-old Anahi Morales receives a COVID-19 vaccine at Esperanza Health Centers, 6057 S. Western Ave., on Nov. 4, 2021. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

CHICAGO — Pfizer has asked federal authorities to grant emergency use authorization to its COVID-19 vaccine for kids 5 and younger.

The Food and Drug Administration’s advisory group will meet Feb. 15, according to The New York Times. That will potentially open the door for the vaccines to be approved within weeks for kids 5 and younger. It’s the only age group for which the vaccines haven’t been approved.

If the vaccine is approved, kids would be able to get their first shot this month and a second shot in three weeks.

More than 19 million children fall into the 5 and younger age group, according to The Times.

Dr. Allison Arwady, head of Chicago’s health department, said on Jan. 20 that she expected vaccines for younger children wouldn’t be approved until the summer or the end of the Omicron surge.

Vaccinations:

• In Illinois, about 7.9 million people — or 62.31 percent of the state’s 12.7 million people — are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to state data.

• Across the state, 33,385 vaccine doses are being administered per day, based on a seven-day rolling average.

• Illinois and Chicago have administered at least 20,581,294 vaccine doses of the 23,147,205 provided to them.

• City data shows more than 1.8 million Chicagoans — or 67 percent of all residents — are fully vaccinated, and 75.4 percent of all Chicagoans have gotten at least one shot.

Everyone 5 and older is eligible to get vaccinated in Chicago.

COVID-19 vaccinations are free and do not require insurance. Anyone can call the city’s coronavirus hotline at 312-746-4835 to get more information on how and where to get vaccinated in their community.

The numbers:

• Since Tuesday, 87 Illinoisans were reported dead from COVID-19.

• At least 31,123 people have died from COVID-19 in Illinois, and another 3,843 deaths are probably related to the virus, according to the state.

• The state reported 9,463 cases since Tuesday. That brings the total number of confirmed cases in Illinois up to 2,939,099.

• Since Tuesday, 140,050 tests were reported statewide. In all, 51,498,181 tests have been reported in Illinois.

• Illinois’ seven-day case positivity rate was at 6.3 percent. The figure represents the percentage of people testing positive among recent tests. It was at 6.8 percent Tuesday.

• Illinois’ seven-day test positivity rate, which measures the percentage of tests that were positive, was at 8.2 percent. It was at 8.5 percent Tuesday.

• As of Tuesday night, 632 people with COVID-19 were in the ICU and 378 people with COVID-19 were using ventilators in Illinois.

• In Chicago, six deaths were reported since Tuesday. There have been at least 6,977 deaths from COVID-19 in Chicago. The city is seeing an average of 14 people dying per day, down 45 percent from a week ago.

• Chicago has had 802 confirmed cases reported since Tuesday. It’s had a total of 544,971 confirmed cases. An average of 939 confirmed cases are being reported per day, down 47 percent from a week ago.

• Testing in Chicago is down 11 percent from a week ago.

• Chicago’s positivity rate was at 4.4 percent, down from 7.1 percent a week ago.

Block Club Chicago’s coronavirus coverage is free for all readers.

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