Prairie State Wire

State governors can block the new U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance, ordering children to get COVID-19 vaccinations if they want to attend K-12 schools.

But Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker isn't likely to be one of them.

Post-pandemic, Pritzker continues to encourage Illinoisans to get the jab.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey opposes vaccine mandates for children. | Bailey for Governor

That's even as Pfizer itself has publicly admitted that its vaccine doesn't stop transmission of COVID-19, and after a Florida Surgeon General report showing the vaccines have caused a sharp increase in cardiac-related deaths for men aged 18-39.

On Oct. 18, Pritzker announced he would give $3.7 million in taxpayer money to "black and brown" local health groups across the state that are "connecting people to vaccinations."

Darren Bailey, a Republican farmer and small business owner challenging Pritzker on the Nov. 8 ballot, has declared unequivocally that he will block the CDC vaccine rules, if elected.

"As governor, my administration will oppose mandating COVID vaccines for grade school, college and employment," he tweeted. "We all know the mandate candidate, J.B. Pritzker, will force it on your kids because he thinks the government knows better than parents."

Pritzker won't likely take that as an insult.

In 2021, Pritzker emerged as one of the nation's most vociferous advocates for COVID-19 vaccine mandates, referring to those skeptical of their effectiveness as "fringe elements" and "grifters."

One of his key allies in the Illinois State Senate even sponsored a bill to allow minor children 14 and older to get COVID-19 shots without their parents consent.

He required K-12 and higher education students and staff, as well as medical industry employees, to take a weekly COVID-19 jab or be tested weekly. And to stop public employees, like police, from citing religious objections in refusing the jab, he worked with legislators to pass a law barring the practice.

Pritzker signed Senate Bill 1169 into law earlier this year. It bans Illinois citizens from asserting their "right of conscience" in refusing to take a COVID-19 vaccine.

During an Oct. 2021 visit to Elk Grove Village, President Joe Biden praised Pritzker's working with him on crafting vaccine mandates.

"Governor, you’ve done more than about anybody I can think of in any state.  I mean that sincerely.  You’ve stepped up.  You’ve always done what you said you were going to do.  And you’ve been relentless in getting people vaccinated," Biden said. "Governor Pritzker, you’ve done one hell of a job, in terms of encouraging people before we even get to the mandate."