With COVID-19 guidance being largely scaled back, health experts anticipate flu and COVID cases to go up this year.

A COVID-19 infection could cause inflammation that may exacerbate changes that are already happening in the brain, experts say.

The governor urged Kentuckians to get vaccinated and boosted against the coronavirus. And he called on leaders in government and other sectors to encourage people to get the shots.

The general consensus is that the new Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech boosters will arrive sometime this month, but depending on the facility, they may arrive earlier at certain places.

Illinois Comptroller Susan Mensoza tested positive for COVID-19 Sunday morning. She is vaccinated and boosted. She reports having mild symptoms.

The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 13 to 1 earlier in the day to recommend updated mRNA boosters for Americans this fall.

The move on Wednesday by the Food and Drug Administration tweaks the recipe of shots made by Pfizer and rival Moderna. The hope is that the modified boosters will blunt yet another winter surge.

Eighty-one Illinois counties are at high or medium COVID-19 community transmission levels, including Hardin, Johnson, Massac, Pope, Pulaski and Union Counties.

(AP) — COVID-19 vaccine maker Moderna is suing its main competitors Pfizer and the German drugmaker BioNTech. It's accusing the rivals of copying Moderna’s technology in order to make their own vaccine.

"After testing negative for COVID-19 on Monday during her regular testing cadence, the First Lady began to develop cold-like symptoms late in the evening. She tested negative again on a rapid antigen test, but a PCR test came back positive," said Elizabeth Alexander, her communications director.

Local health professionals in the Local 6 region are reacting to changes on COVID-19 guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  

The shift is a sign of how much has changed since the beginning of the pandemic more than two years ago. Nearly the entire US population has at least some immunity through vaccination, previous infection or, in some cases, both.

(CNN) — President Joe Biden has tested negative for COVID-19 but will remain in isolation pending a second test, his physician announced in a letter Saturday.

Senator Dale Fowler is currently isolating due to testing positive for COVID-19, according to an announcement from his office. 

The 77-year-old Durbin's announcement comes after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said last week he tested positive following travel to the White House, Maine and Florida.

Biden's physician released a letter on Wednesday announcing his most recent COVID-19 test was negative and he can end his isolation. 

After participating in a virtual meeting to talk about computer chip manufacturing, Biden said "everything's on the button" with the medical tests he's been receiving each evening.

WEST KENTUCKY — The omicron BA.5 sub-variant is dominating among COVID-19 cases in the United States.

The vaccine will be available in the United States in the coming weeks. 

McCracken, Calloway and Graves counties are in the red on the Kentucky COVID-19 COVID018 community levels map. However, local hospitals say this isn't impacting hospitalization rates.

Over 39,000 people were included in the study — ages 18 to 80 — who were fully vaccinated and had not contracted COVID-19.

Novavax's vaccine will be available as two-dose primary series for people 18 and older. 

Second boosters have been authorized for adults 50 and older, as well as some people with weakened immune systems, since late March. But younger adults are eligible for only one booster shot.

The health department is encouraging people in those counties to follow all COVID-19 safety precautions. 

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky signed off on the plan, clearing the way for the vaccinations to be administered this week.

Moderna's vaccine is now authorized for use in children 6 months through 17 years and Pfizer/BioNTech's for children 6 months through 4 years. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is 81, has mild symptoms and has been boosted twice, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases says. 

COVID-19 shots for infants, toddlers and preschoolers in the U.S. moved a step closer to approval in the US on Wednesday. 

The saliva-based SHIELD tests were developed by the University of Illinois. IDPH says the nonprofit SHIELD Illinois program provides tests on-demand through weekly screening testing in Illinois schools, businesses and government agencies. 

If the panel endorses the shot and the FDA agrees, it would become the second option for those children, joining Pfizer's vaccine.