New mandate will cover 55,000 workers

•October 27, 2021•
By Jerry Nowicki
Capitol News Illinois
jnowicki @ capitolnewsillinois.com

Gov. JB Pritzker announced an executive order Friday that will add day care personnel to the list of professions that must either be vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly testing.
The governor’s office said it expects the order to affect 55,000 individuals in the state, although many of them may have already received a vaccine.
“Vaccinations offer life-saving protection for the people who receive them and make the community safer for the people who can’t – including the babies, toddlers, and young children not yet eligible for the vaccine,” Pritzker said in a news release. “By extending vaccine-or-test requirements to those who work at licensed day care centers, we are adding another level of protection for our youngest residents and preventing outbreaks in daycare centers as more and more parents return to work.”
Children under 12 are not yet eligible to receive any of the approved vaccines in the U.S., although Pfizer has asked federal regulators to approve its vaccines for children aged 5 to 11. Children 12 years of age and older are currently eligible for that vaccine.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.