YMCA gyms in the Chicago area have been accused of discriminating against the unvaccinated aged 5 and up.
The move is subsequent to Cook County’s executive order mandate requiring proof of vaccination for restaurants, gyms and bars and a variety of other indoor spaces that goes into effect Jan. 3.
“Some Chicagoland YMCAs will participate in medical apartheid by restricting access for age 5+ to those who are vaccinated. Keeping out unvaccinated children is ‘putting your health and safety first,’” a Twitter alias Emma Woodhouse said in a tweet.
YMCA Chicago operates 65 locations throughout the area and has 100 extension offices.
“The YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago is a place of belonging — it’s why we put health, wellness and safety of our members, our staff and our community among our top priorities. We believe that requiring guests 5 years of age and older to produce proof of vaccination is the best course of action to protect our community. Every time you walk into a Y location, we want you to feel confident that we are putting your health and safety first,” the organization said online.
Three U.S. governors, all Republicans, have come out publicly against vaccine passports: Florida's Ron DeSantis, Georgia's Brian Kemp and Texas' Greg Abbott.
Locally, Mayor Keith Peak — a candidate for Illinois’ 6th Congressional District — has said Orland Park will not be requiring vaccine proof, South Cook News said.
Similarly, Americans overall have rejected the idea of mandatory vaccination to use everyday facilities, according to Pew Research.
Of respondents 88% said, “There’s too much pressure on Americans to get a COVID-19 vaccine” and 81% responded yes to “We don’t really know yet if there are serious health risks from COVID-19 vaccines”. In addition, 81% agreed with the statement that “Public health officials are not telling us everything they know about COVID-19 vaccines.”
A full 20% of Americans said they never intend to get vaccinated, according to an Axios-Ipsos poll.
In 2022 pharmaceutical companies are expected to make an estimated $52 billion on the sale of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines augmented by booster shots, according to analysts in The Wall Street Journal.
COVID vaccine efficacy increasingly has been called into question.
A February 2021 article in The New England Journal of Medicine said that of 596,618 Israelis, some of whom took the Pfizer vaccine, 39 deaths had been reported due to the coronavirus among the non-vaccinated and 20 such deaths among the vaccinated, a reduction in risk of fatality of 0.0003%.
The vaccinated have reported COVID infections across the world, leading many to question effectiveness of the shot.
A Michigan study between Jan. 1 and March 3, 2020 of COVID-vaccinated residents found that 246 "considered fully vaccinated were later diagnosed with the virus, and three have died," according to The Detroit News.
Other researchers are outright opposed to vaccinating children.
Harvard Professor Martin Kulldorff, an epidemiologist and infectious-disease expert, wrote in March 2021 that “thinking that everyone must be vaccinated is as scientifically flawed as thinking that nobody should. COVID vaccines are important for older high-risk people and their care-takers. Those with prior natural infection do not need it. Nor children."
In April 2021, Dr. Vinay Prasad, a University of California professor, San Francisco physician and epidemiologist, called it "ludicrous and unethical" to vaccinate children before vaccinating 70- and 80-year-olds around the world, according to MedPage Today.
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