Afternoon Edition: Dec. 9, 2020

Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.

This afternoon will be sunny with a high near 49 degrees. Tonight’s low will be around 32 degrees. Tomorrow, more sun is in the forecast, with a high near 51 degrees.

Top story

COVID-19 vaccines will be offered first to health care workers. But do they want them?

A COVID-19 vaccine may be coming to Illinois as soon as next week, but that doesn’t mean Falguni Dave, a nurse at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, will be lining up for a shot.

“Until we have better research on it I don’t think I would be ready to use it at this point,” said Dave, a medical-surgical unit nurse and a union steward for National Nurses United. “This being such a new vaccine, there’s a lot that’s still unknown.”

The government says health care workers should be among the first to receive COVID-19 shots, but it’s unclear how many frontline personnel, including nurses, doctors and support staff, will actually agree to receive a vaccine. The city’s largest hospitals say they won’t mandate workers receive the vaccine, at least not initially.

There are two significant reasons why:

For one, it’s unclear how many vaccines will be distributed around the Chicago area early on, but probably not enough to inoculate every health care worker and nursing home resident, the other priority group for the shots.

Secondly and importantly, hospital officials say that the vaccine candidates nearing release — one made by drug giant Pfizer and the other by biotech company Moderna — were tested at unprecedented speeds, raising questions about long-term safety.

Early data from studies of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines show the therapies to be extremely effective and safe. Yet the research shows only months of results compared with years of analysis that is typically required for vaccine approval. Pfizer’s candidate is expected to be the first to clear a government bar this week for what’s known as an emergency use authorization.

“We are extremely encouraged by what we know about the vaccines but we’re not in a position where we would mandate it,” Dr. Robert Citronberg, executive medical director of Infectious Diseases and Prevention at Advocate Aurora Health, said in a statement. “We want to have the opportunity to study it over at least the next several months. We’re still going to encourage as many people to get it as we can.”

Several hospitals said they’re polling employees to gauge interest in the vaccine. An internal survey of Loyola University Medical Center employees showed 70% of those who responded were interested in receiving the vaccine, a spokeswoman said.

Still, employees aren’t being pressured, according to several hospitals. “Because the vaccines are new, there are many other unknowns, including unanticipated physical reactions,” Rush University Medical Center said in a statement.

Rush and Loyola were among the first big Chicago hospitals to require their employees to get flu vaccines in 2009. Others followed. Advocate, the largest health system in Illinois, and Cook County Health, one of the country’s largest public health systems, both require flu shots, as do hospitals operated by Northwestern and University of Chicago. None of these hospitals are requiring that their workers get the COVID shots.

The story doesn’t end here. Read Brett Chase’s full report.

More news you need

1. Mayor Lori Lightfoot today outlined plans to distribute free coronavirus vaccines next year to all adults who live and work in Chicago, beginning with front-line health care workers and employees of long-term care facilities, many of whom are minorities. The Chicago Department of Public Health expects to receive its first 23,000 doses later this month.
2. Days ahead of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine’s expected arrival in Illinois, the state endured its fifth-highest daily death count of the pandemic today with public health officials announcing COVID-19 has claimed 179 more lives. Illinois hospitals saw their biggest one-day jump in coronavirus patients since reaching an all-time high before Thanksgiving.
3. Two south suburban men sold devices that convert handguns into fully automatic weapons, which one man said were for “people who want to shoot some people, gangbangers and s—,” federal authorities say. The devices, made in China, can be bought on the Internet for less than $70 but are sold on the street for hundreds of dollars, authorities say.
4. Despite calls to reduce the time students spend staring at computer screens during remote learning, Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson said she’s unwilling to cut any live instructional time built into remote schedules. She argues that students have already lost too much time to a teachers strike and pandemic closures.

A bright one

For Joseph ‘Mojo’ Morganfield, making music like his famous dad is a very ‘Good’ thing

Joseph “Mojo” Morganfield grew up with a musical legend for a father: the late Chicago blues deity and rock progenitor Muddy Waters. “He was just ‘Dad’ at home,” recalls Morganfield, who describes his upbringing in suburban Westmont — replete with school, chores, basketball practice, et al. — as “a good childhood, in a normal household.”

He does acknowledge, though, that normal households typically don’t see the likes of Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones dropping by to pay a visit. “Eric came over quite a bit, whenever he was in the States,” Morganfield said of the British guitar god, noting that Clapton served as best man in Waters’ 1979 wedding.

Lynn Orman Weiss

“Mojo” Morganfield, 56, is the youngest son of Waters, who was born McKinley Morganfield in 1915. Raised on a Mississippi plantation where he picked up guitar and harmonica, Muddy Waters arrived in Chicago in 1943 to ply his trade as a professional musician. He remained here for the rest of his storied life, emblazoning his mark on music history.

The most recent of Muddy’s offspring to pursue his own career in music, Morganfield has released a new single, “It’s Good to Be King,” on Chicago’s longstanding independent Delmark label. The irrepressible, quintessentially Chicago-style blues track was recorded by Morganfield and his combo, the Mannish Boyz — another band name sparked by a Muddy Waters hit song.

“The main goal,” Morganfield said, “is to keep my father’s legacy alive.”

Read more of our interview with Morganfield here.

From the press box

DeShaun Watson is in town this week to remind Bears fans in person what they’ve been missing out on since the team decided to draft Mitch Trubisky instead. The Texans may not be a great team overall, but Watson enters the game firmly entrenched as one of the league’s premier passers.

And there’s more bad news, not for Bears fans but boaters: Navy Pier Marina’s grand opening is being pushed back to spring 2022.

Your daily question ☕

Front line workers: Will you get the COVID-19 vaccine once it’s available to you? Tell us why, or why not.

Email us (please include your first name and where you live) and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.

Yesterday, we asked you: What’s the best thing you’ve read during the pandemic, and what’s next on your list? Here’s what some of you said…

“I’ve read 32 books so far this year. The best was ‘The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah.’ I’m currently reading ‘How to Stop Time’ by Matt Haig. Next on my list is ‘Ready Player Two’ by Ernest Cline.” — Kelly Beall

“I love historical true stories. Just finished ‘On Desperate Ground’ by Hampton Sides. Great story of the Marines and the Battle for Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War.” — Jacque H. Tennyson

“Reread ‘The Stand’ by Stephen King.” — Leslie Caruso

“‘Kindred’ by Octavia Butler. It’s a creative way to read about racial issues during this trying year with the need for police reform.” — Anthony Murphy

“‘Beowulf,’ translated by Maria Dahvana Headley. Next on my list is ‘Mexican Gothic’ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.” — Monica D. Reida

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