Illinois K-12 and higher education staff members will have to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Gov. J.B. Pritzker made that announcement Thursday in Chicago. Republican state Rep. Avery Bourne said the governor is overstepping his bounds because vaccination mandates should be collectively bargained with employee unions and locally elected school boards. The governor also announced all health care professional must get vaccinated or tested regularly.
Pritzker also announced an indoor mask mandate statewide for anyone over the age of 2, starting Monday. Last year, the governor’s first mask emergency rule was repealed after the 12-member bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules said it was too harsh. But, the panel allowed a follow-up rule to stand that required businesses to enforce the mandate. After multiple extensions, that rule expired earlier this year. J-CAR could take up the issue of the statewide mandate, and the schools mandate, at its next meeting Sept. 14.
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