Chicago City Wire

In response to the rising number of positive COVID-19 cases in the city, Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) has issued a new vaccine mandate that will go into effect after the New Year. 

Lightfoot claimed the city was experiencing a "fifth wave" of the virus when she issued the mandate that will take effect Jan. 3, 2022. It will require people ages 5 and older to show proof of "full" vaccination before entering places that serve food or drinks, entertainment venues, and fitness centers. According to NBC Chicago, it will also require people ages 16 and older to have proof of identification. 

"We didn't want it to get to this point, but given the situation we find ourselves in, we have no choice," Lightfoot wrote in a Dec. 21 tweet. "Hospitalizations in the city are at their highest since our surge last winter. Deaths are at a higher rate than we have seen in months. On top of all this, we can expect a post-holiday surge in cases."

New York City has a similar mandate in place, according to CBS New York. NewsNation Now reported that Illinois also has a statewide mask mandate in effect despite vaccination status, and is one of eight states in the nation to have one in place.

Jennifer Frazer, an AAAS Science Journalism Award-winning science writer, found that vaccinated people have been coming down with and spreading the virus in "nontrivial numbers." In an article she wrote for Scientific American, Frazer pointed at the World Health Organization's director-general stated the vaccines were "40% effective" at preventing the spread of COVID-19.