Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson and his wife have both been admitted to hospital with COVID-19

• The Rev. Jessie Jackson and his wife have been hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19.
• "Both are resting comfortably and are responding positively to their treatments," their son Jonathan Jackson said.
• The civil rights leader received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in January.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the famed civil rights leader and two-time presidential candidate, and his wife have been admitted to the hospital after testing positive for COVID-19, according to his representatives.

Jackson, 79, and his wife Jacqueline Jackson, 77, are being treated at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, according to a statement issued by his nonprofit organization, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

Jonathan Jackson, one of the couple's five children, said on Sunday that physicians were "carefully monitoring their condition" because of their ages.

"She [Jacqueline] had been real lethargic with flu-like symptoms [and] went to the hospital Friday," he told ABC 7 Chicago. "Then it was diagnosed that she and my dad both had contracted COVID. She is having some oxygen, but is able to function and breathe on her own without a respirator. Nothing severe. Because of her age and her current health, it is more challenging."

According to Jonathan Jackson, the couple is resting comfortably and has responded positively to treatments.

"My family appreciates all of the expressions of concern and prayers that have been offered on their behalf, and we will continue to offer our prayers for your family as well," he expressed in a statement.

Jackson received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in January, NPR reported. He received his first dose as part of a publicized event to encourage Black people to get vaccinated, NBC News said.

With the highly infectious Delta variant sweeping the US, breakthrough COVID-19 infections for vaccinated individuals have been reported, especially among Americans who are older or immunocompromised.

In February, he underwent successful surgery after being hospitalized for abdominal discomfort.

"We ask that you continue to pray for the full recovery of our parents. We will continue to update you on a regular basis," Jonathan Jackson added.

A protégé of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jackson has been a longtime pillar of the civil rights movement, and his activism has endured over the years.

Earlier this month, he was arrested outside the US Capitol while calling for Congress to eliminate the filibuster, pass voting-rights legislation, and raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Bernice King, the daughter of Rev. King, tweeted that she was "praying" for the couple on Saturday night.

"This is vicious and it can turn quickly, so we are trying to stay upbeat and optimistic," Jonathan Jackson later told ABC 7. "But, I have seen this thing turn on a dime. You really just do not know."

While Jackson cut his teeth in organizing during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, his runs for president in 1984 and 1988 elevated him to the highest echelons of Democratic politics, as he used his masterful oratory to power a coalition of Black and liberal voters that yearned to flex their electoral power.

Jackson did not win the Democratic nomination in either year, but his victories in Southern primaries and several caucus states made him a force to be reckoned with in the party.