An illustration if the medication Beyfortus. (Credit: AstraZeneca)

Centers for Disease Control Director Dr. Mandy Cohen said manufacturers, who are making the immunization for the first time, underestimated demand.

(WTTW News)

The study compares firearm injury emergency department visits for kids at nine urban hospitals across the U.S. before and during the pandemic.

(WTTW News)

Chicago’s temperatures are dropping. This brings a new set of challenges for the more than 2,800 migrants living at police stations — most of whom have never experienced a Chicago winter.

Dr. Ray Mendez, right, examines Moises Abraham Hidalgo Sarmiento, 30, of Peru outside of the 1st District police station where migrants are camped, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / AP Photo)

Using sidewalks as exam rooms and heavy red duffle bags as medical supply closets, volunteer medics spend their Saturdays caring for the growing number of migrants arriving in Chicago without a place to live.

Community health worker Stefferina Woodrick leaving a flyer at a house on the 7800 block of South Pulaski Road in Ashburn on Oct. 31, 2023. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)

Their mission was to pass out flyers with information about an upcoming COVID-19 and flu vaccination clinic at Richard J. Daley Community College on the Southwest Side.

(Julia M. Cameron / Pexels)

With winter fast approaching, the city of Chicago is reminding people that asylum seekers and homeless residents are in need of clothing, toiletries and other items.

FILE - Doses of the anti-viral drug Paxlovid are displayed in New York, Aug. 1, 2022. (Stephanie Nano / AP Photo, File)

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is setting the price for a five-day treatment of Paxlovid at $1,390, but Americans can still access the pills at no cost — for now. The less commonly used COVID-19 treatment Lagevrio, manufactured by Merck, also will hit the market next week.

FILE - A Moderna Spikevax COVID-19 vaccine is seen at a drugstore in Cypress, Texas, Sept. 20, 2023. More than a month after federal officials recommended a new version of the COVID-19 vaccines, 7% of U.S. adults and 2% of children have gotten a shot. (Melissa Phillip / Houston Chronicle via AP, File)

Officials approved updated shots that have a single target, an omicron descendant named XBB.1.5. Last month, the CDC recommended the new shots for everyone 6 months and older.

(WTTW News)

The death rate for breast cancer in the United States dropped 43% between 1989 and 2020, according to the American Cancer Society. Despite this hopeful news, breast cancer mortality rates still remain 40% higher for Black women than White women. 

(Pexels / Kei Scampa)

The state still has a long way to go toward ensuring that all Illinois residents can have a safe and healthy pregnancy, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said in a press release.

(WTTW News)

Neighborhoods on the South and West Sides of Chicago have seen the highest amount of medical debt erased so far, according to officials.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration took a “momentous” step toward banning menthol in cigarettes and banning flavored cigars. (Liudmila Chernetska / iStockphoto / Getty Images)

The FDA has been officially exploring the possibility of a menthol ban for more than a decade. In July 2013, the FDA requested comments on preliminary research, data and evaluations with regard to the regulation of menthol.

A still image from a video taken of the demolition of the Crawford Coal Plant smokestack, April 11, 2020. (Alejandro Reyes / YouTube)

Dave Graham, who a watchdog report said should be fired for “willful bureaucratic negligence” in the 2020 incident that covered Little Village in dust, is now in charge of environmental inspections and enforcement.

(CNN)
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The rise in opioid deaths is largely due to the increase in synthetic opioids like fentanyl, says law enforcement officials. 

(WTTW News)
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The Narcotics Arrest Diversion Program, an initiative launched in 2018, offers those arrested for low-level drug offenses who meet certain criteria a chance to have their charges dropped if they agree to meet with a drug counselor.

Law enforcement members of New York Sheriff's Joint Compliance Task Force (SJCTF) carry bags of confiscated vaping products, during a spot raid of a tobacco shop, Wednesday Sept. 27, 2023, in New York. (Bebeto Matthews / AP Photo)

The recent shift toward e-cigarettes that can’t be refilled has created a new environmental dilemma. The devices, which contain nicotine, lithium and other metals, cannot be reused or recycled. Under federal environmental law, they also aren’t supposed to go in the trash.