Peoria Standard

State Rep. Thomas Bennett (R-Watseka) is urging everyone eligible in Illinois to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as the state opens up vaccination eligibility to those 16 and older.

"If you've not been vaccinated, go to Coronavirus.Illinois.gov or contact your health department to find a nearby vaccination center," Bennett said in a YouTube video posted Friday, April 16.

Bennett's advice to the unvaccinated was in anticipation of everyone in Illinois 16 and older becoming eligible for a COVID vaccination starting Monday.

"Some counties had already opened up their vaccination eligibility to everyone but now the expansion is in place statewide," Bennett said. "The news came as positive tests continued to increase with the average number of positive tests moving above 3,000 per day for the first time since early February."

Bennett, who grew up on a small farm near Gibson City, has represented Illinois State House District 106 since 2015.

The 106th House District includes all or parts of Livingston, Iroquois, Woodford, Vermillion and Ford Counties. The district has a population of about 108,000 in approximately 60 villages, towns and communities.

Thousands of Illinoisans are testing positive for COVID-19, with almost 2,000 new cases reported Monday and more than 2,500 new cases reported earlier today.

The idea behind opening vaccination eligibility to most everyone, despite the continued vaccine shortage and as positive tests continue on the rise, is to try to - somehow - get ahead of the expected nationwide fourth wave.

Vaccines could keep that latest wave to a slow boil, compared to previous waves.

"Thanks to the rapid rollout of vaccines, I don't think we'll have a surge that is anything like what we've seen before," Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told NPR Illinois earlier this month. "Still, any additional deaths at this point are tragedies, given that we have on hand vaccines that could have prevented them."