Chambana Sun

A south central Illinois state representative recently likened Chicago's looming vaccine mandate, announced earlier this week, to one of the greatest tragedies the city has ever known.

State Rep. Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville) took to social media to respond to the vaccine mandate that is set to go into effect early next year.

"Just in time for Christmas," Halbrook said in his Dec. 21, Facebook post. A Christmas tree emoticon was included with Halbrook's post.

"Great Chicago Fire 2.0," Halbrook concluded.

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 started in the barn Patrick and Catherine O'Leary, lasted for two days, killed hundreds of people and caused devastating property damage in much of the city.

Halbrook's tweet included a graphic that had been part of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot's Twitter post earlier in the day, in which she said the city had been left no other options but to bring down a broad-ranging vaccine mandate.

"We didn’t want it to get to this point, but given the situation we find ourselves in, we have no choice," Lightfoot tweeted.

Her Twitter post was only one way the city broadcast information about the vaccine mandate on Dec. 21.

In a statement issued that day, Lightfoot's office claimed an "informed decision" had been made about new vaccine mandates in the city.

"Despite our diligent and equitable vaccine distribution efforts throughout this year, unfortunately, our city continues to see a surge of COVID-19 Delta and now Omicron cases," Lightfoot said in the statement. "New steps must be taken to protect the health and wellbeing of our residents. This public health order requiring proof of vaccination to visit certain indoor public places is a necessary measure to ensure we can continue to enjoy our city's many amenities as we enter the new year."

During a more-than-hour-long news conference that same day, Lightfoot said, "there's no denying that we are in a fifth wave" of COVID-19, a wave she said "is seemingly more deadly than the last."

"I have not been this concerned about COVID-19 since the early days of the pandemic in 2020," Lightfoot said early in the news conference.

In her statement and news conference, Lightfoot announced the vaccine mandate, to take effect Jan. 3, covering customers trying to enter restaurants, bars, gyms, coffee shops, breweries, banquet halls, hotel ballrooms, fitness classes, movie theaters, concert venues, sports arenas, bowling alleys, and performing arts centers. Customers 5 years and older will be required to show proof of full vaccination and those 16 and older will also be required to provide proof of identification.

Illinois remains one of only eight states in the nation with a statewide mask mandate regardless of vaccination status, according to NewsNationNow.

A similar mandate has been established in New York, CBS New York reported earlier this week.

Lightfoot's assertion during her news conference that the latest COVID wave dominant variant, Omicron, "is seemingly more deadly than the last, spreading faster and causing profound harm" runs counter to what medical experts are saying. In an opinion piece published in Scientific American last week, award-winning science writer Jennifer Frazer said she found "vaccinated people – whether they have symptoms or not – are contracting and spreading the virus in nontrivial numbers."  She also noted statements by World Health Organization's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that vaccines had been "60 percent protective" against COVID spread prior to Delta but, "post Delta," the protection has dropped to 40 percent.

"Omicron may worsen the problem [of dropping vaccine protection], if, as suspected, it is more transmissible and leads to many more breakthrough infections," Frazer said in her opinion piece.