Jesse Jackson released from health facility after battle with COVID-19

Iconic civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson was released on Wednesday from a Chicago facility after he was hospitalized last month with a breakthrough COVID-19 infection. 

Jackson and his wife, Jacqueline, who was not vaccinated, were both hospitalized at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in July. Rev. Jackson was released less than a week after he was first hospitalized and transferred to an in-patient facility for intensive physical therapy due to Parkinson’s disease, The Associated Press (AP) reported. 

The 79-year-old was released from The Shirley Ryan AbilityLab on Wednesday, Chinta Strausberg, a spokeswoman with Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, told the AP. 

“We know it is a miracle that both of our parents are now COVID-19 survivors, and we thank God for his healing,” one of the couple’s sons, Jonathan Jackson, said in a statement Wednesday, according to The AP. “We also pray for the millions of people who have been infected with this virus and pray they too will also overcome.”

Jackson told The AP last month that his wife was not vaccinated due to a “pre-existing condition.” But Jonathan Jackson said since his mother’s release, she has been a “true advocate for everyone” to get their vaccinations. The 77-year-old required a brief stint in intensive care and oxygen during her stay before being released earlier in September, according to The AP. 

Jackson, who has been an advocate for coronavirus vaccines and has battled vaccine hesitancy among Black communities, was vaccinated alongside Kizzmekia Corbett from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease in January.

“We know our history, and we understand from where this hesitancy comes,” Corbett told the Chicago Sun-Times. “On the one hand, we are the communities most plagued by the pandemic. On the other hand, we are communities least likely to get vaccinated.”