Some cities in Cook County, Il, have expressed their opposition to a vaccine passport mandate affecting five-year-olds. The mayors in these cities and towns have said they will not implement the mandate.
Illinois’ largest county, Cook County, announced a vaccine passport mandate requiring all bars, restaurants, and fitness centers to “require any individual 5 years of age and older to show proof that they are fully-vaccinated against COVID-19 with an approved vaccine in order to enter the establishment.”
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Cook County is the largest county in Illinois, accounting for 40% of the state’s population.
As reported by The Center Square, “So far leaders from Orland Park, Niles, Morton Grove and Lincolnwood have chosen to not enforce the vaccine mandate in their towns.”
“I have a village of nearly 60,000 residents to answer to; I don’t need extreme politicians in the Cook County government telling me what is best for Orland Park,” Mayor Keith Pekau said in a December letter to Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.
Later, on January 4, he reiterated his objection in a video posted on YouTube. “The vaccine passport requirement, ordered by one person, is an affront to our laws and the rights of our citizens and businesses,” the mayor said.
Via a January 6 tweet, he claimed that the County sent him outdated data to justify the vaccine mandate.
“I asked Toni Preckwinkle for data supporting her vaccine mandate,” he wrote on Twitter. “They sent over a case study of COVID cases in 3 gyms in June & July of 2020 in Hawaii. . . I wish I was joking. Somehow, 3 gyms on an island before the vaccine justifies a vaccine mandate here in Cook Co. in ’22.”
According to Fox 32, the mayor of Tinley Park, which has a portion in Will County, is also against the vaccine mandate.
“We have all struggled over the last 21 months with this pandemic, but we can get through this together by using common sense and respecting others. I am confident that our resilient community will move forward in 2022 stronger and better than before,” Tinley Park Mayor Michael Glotz wrote in a letter on the city’s website.
“I must provide that all residents, visitors and employees are treated equally,” he said in his message.
